


Together we chase the dawn

by slytherinnbitch



Series: The happier Series with people who are not dumb af [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Head Boy James Potter, Head Girl Lily Evans Potter, Hogwarts Seventh Year, I'll add more tags as i go, Muggle games, Multi, Past Abuse, Truth or Dare, winter ball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26987797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherinnbitch/pseuds/slytherinnbitch
Summary: While being Head Boy and Head Girl makes James and Lily come closer, Sirius and Remus label whatever they do as 'mates do that', which includes everything from bringing hot chocolate at dawn to pecks and sleeping in the same bed.or where Lily falls for James and Sirius and Remus get homely.
Relationships: Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, side ships - Relationship
Series: The happier Series with people who are not dumb af [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969663
Comments: 12
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone who is here again, I changed the description, that's why you don't find it familiar. To the new ones, HELLO! 
> 
> I'll be updating this weekly, if I don't; feel free to pester me on insta @slytherinnbitch

_ Holy fucking shit-  _ Those are the first words that invade my mind as I finally find my best friends standing in a corner with Euphemia and Fleamont Potter talking animatedly with one another. 

_ Sirius Black  _

That's the only thing on my mind, I'm unable to even move my limbs, I just stand there with my mouth hung open, until James,  _ thank Merlin it's him and not the other guy,  _ spots me and waves towards me. I try my best to wave back at him, I don't think it works because he is smirking at me. 

As I trudge forward making my way through the hundreds of Hogwarts students and their guardians, I just look at the wonder known as Sirius Black.

He is in his usual black leather jacket but this time it has spikes on it. Ripped jeans and a white Queen t-shirt. But that's not all, he has a  _ fucking _ tattoo on his neck of …...of a lion and by the looks of it, it's a Muggle one. It makes me want to pounce on him in the middle of the whole station. His hair is open and it has that  _ just shagged  _ look to it. I want to run my hands through it but no- he is just my best mate and nothing else. It could never be more than that, ever.

"Hey Moons, you look great!" I register Peter's voice and I realize that I'm standing right in front of them and ……. probably staring as well. I quickly avert my eyes towards my two other best friends. 

"Yeah, Re. I agree with Pete. You look incredible. Doesn't he, Pads?"

I feel blood rushing to my cheeks and I look back at him, only to find him staring at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. 

"Pads?" James jabs his elbow at his ribs,  _ that  _ seems to work as he blinks and starts stuttering, “Wha- Yeah Remus you look good, great actually."

_ Okay, this is weird, I don't think I have ever seen Sirius stutter, like everrr. _

"Thanks y'all but I disagree." Before all of them could even start disagreeing, Mrs. Potter comments, "Darling, you really look nice but you boys can argue all you want after getting on the train, it would leave in about ten minutes from now. You won't want to miss it, now would you?"

All of us collectively groan at the 'boys' part which makes both the elderly Potters laugh. We after bidding our goodbyes, start walking towards  ** our  ** compartment at the end of the train. Everyone knows better than to occupy that compartment, and the first years rarely, if ever, go that far behind. We must have been the only firsties to do so, and now that is our exclusive compartment since year one. 

Sirius, as always stayed back, saying he would join us soon. He always stayed back for a minute or two, talking with the Potters- thanking them, hugging them. 

James beside me starts, as soon as we are out of their earshot, "So……."  _ Ugh the dramatic pause, he must have learned that from our drama queen.  _

"Moony, is there anything we should know or anything you have to say?"

"I think he does, don't you Moons?" Now even Peter is on their side, just great!

"Why I don't know what you guys are on about?"

"Oh is that so?"

"Must be, Prongs. Moony wouldn't keep anything from us, would he? Even if it's a crush, right Moons?"

"Whose crush?" Sirius asks as he rejoins us.

“No one’s.”, I say far too quickly, shooting death glares at my traitor friends. He doesn’t pry and we at last bode the train. 

As the train starts moving, I as,” I heard you became Head Boy, Prongs?”

“Yep, that’s me, bitches!”

“You’re not even a prefect, god knows how and why Dumbledore made you  _ Head Boy _ ?” Peter adds, with an awed tone.

“Well, at least this would mean I won’t be the only marauder in the hoard of perfect nerdy prefects.”

“Remus you are a nerd, so please stop,” Sirius smirks-  _ damn I wanna wipe that smirk off his face. _

“Haha Hilarious, Pads! At least from now on, I won’t have to attend all meetings, I can use that time to device more pranks. You lot are hopeless in that case to be fair.”

“What the hell, Moons!”

“Moony that is  _ not _ true.”

“You gonna pay for that one, Re!” Padfoot lunged forward from his seat across me and tackled me on the old train seats. He stared directly into my eyes, what was supposed to be mischievous turned into a heated gaze. Those grey eyes-almost black with flecks of white, staring at me as if he can read whatever is behind them. I don’t know, maybe after a lifetime, someone-James, that bastard, clears his throat and he moves away from me and sits back beside James. 

An awkward silence descends which Peter clears by stating he is hungry and asks what we want from the trolley. After taking our requests from the trolley, he leaves in search of the trolley lady, whose name I’m yet to know.

Just as he leaves, Lily walks past, peering in the compartment windows clearly searching for someone, she stops and looks again, her face brightening with a wide smile and gentle eyes. She opened the door and entered, looking at me, all the while her eyes flickering towards Prongs.

“Hey, Re! I just heard that the new Head Boy is a Gryffindor so I came to congratulate you. Congrats, it should have been you only. Who else could be better? We would be the duo of the decade.”

“Yeah, Lils. About that-”, He was interrupted by James.

“Good to know that you became Head Girl, Evans. It would be great working with you. Maybe we would be the duo after all.” He smirked- just a little as he stared at the open-mouthed, feisty Lily Evans, who for the first time since Remus has seen her was rendered totally speechless.

“What the bloody hell?! You- you are the Head Boy. You’re not even a prefect.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve noticed. What can I say? I’ve such charm.” Lily looked as if she was about to explode, but instead, she kept it to an eye-roll.

“Shut up, Potter. Move those legs and let’s go to the prefect’s meeting. We both, unfortunately, are needed.”

“Sure, Evans. Whatever you want.”, he had a small smile on his face as he got up from his seat while Sirius looked as if he was trying to control his laughter, evident on his pretty face.

“Re? Are you not coming?”

“Nah, there are some perks when both the Head Boy and Girl are my mates. One of them is being personally being informed of my duties, thus I don’t ever need to attend a meeting in person, ever again.” he grinned at her and James, both of them sporting amused expressions.

Soon both of them left and it was just him and Sirius in the compartment. They smiled shyly at each other before narrating their summers to each other, although they had been together for most of it. It was nice to hear Sirius’s soothing, musical voice so he wasn’t complaining much- or rather at all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before, this fic has four povs, first one was of Remus. This one is of James. I want you people to guess if there is some kind of pattern in the povs or not, after fourth chapter, ofc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is way way late, I had this posted on other sites almost two weeks ago but I forgot to do it here, im sorry...

*POV James*

As we exit the compartment, leaving those oblivious idiots alone, I look at Evans for the first time properly. She has always been beautiful, with her dark red hair, clear skin except for the small solitary freckle, just under her left eye. He hadn’t noticed that before, maybe because this was the first time he was in such an close proximity of her. He concluded it was quite nice, being this close while not doing stupid shit or her shouting and yelling at him.

She turned slightly towards me and caught me looking-OopS- a tinge of red crept to her soft cheeks and she  _ smiled _ at me,  _ clearly I’m dreaming. _

“So, Potter, tell me how you landed on this job? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such an occurrence before.”

“To be honest, Evans, even I don’t know. Its a normal morning I was out on my baby with Pads and the owls arrive with mails, saying I’m appointed Head Boy. Seriously, what was Dumbledore thinking? Can you imagine what level of bad idea this is, if even I’m saying that?”

We both laugh at that. Her laugh is angelic, she has never laughed like that, not with me. As if reading my thoughts, she abruptly stops. We walk in silence towards the prefects’ compartment where the first meeting is supposed to be held. We are a bit early because everyone is yet to arrive…… except for Sirius’ younger brother, Regulus.

Its rumored that he has been branded this year, why did they make someone like him a prefect? He looks gloomy and sad-not like the perfect pureblood death-eater he is said to be. As soon as he hears us enter, his whole demeanor changes. Gone is the weak looking, sad guy, replaced by the sneering bastard who looks at Lily with distain- _ but why? Was he hiding something? Why in Merlin’s balls did he look sad?! _

“Ah here comes the filthy blooded creature and that too with a pureblood, what the bloody hell is even happening?”, he sneered, looking at Lily in pure disgust.

Before Lily can even react, I have my wand out and pointed directly at him, “Now now, listen up you little piece of shit. If ever…….ever so much so even think of repeating those words in any kind of synonyms in front of me or anyone else, I will forget that you’re Sirius’ brother. Trust me I’ll.”

His daring eyes, flicker another emotion at his name. He quiets down immediately as the other prefects trickle in.

Soon the surprise and shock of me being the Head Boy is forgotten and we are assigning duties to everyone. No one has insulted Evans after the second time I  _ almost _ attacked Malfoy, and three stinging hexes from Evans herself. It was almost peaceful now, except a few glares.

Obviously the worst duties were assigned to Black, Malfoy and their entourage. Black got the grounds duty, just imagining him doing his duties in December gives my heart pleasure. 

After everyone has left, Evans turns to me,“Potter, do you realize that we need to be in uniform when we arrive. Or that we- no you should have been in uniform since the beginning?”

“Nah, I’m forgiven due to my beautiful face. Don’t worry, fifteen minutes are left before we reach.”

“Whatever, Potter. Don’t flatter yourself, I’ve got better things to worry about. Anyways, I should get going. Gotta find my favourite gay couple.” She shakes her head, laughing at herself before walking towards the door, just as she reaches the door she turns around and says,” Also, thank you for standing up for me, even though you didn’t have to.”

She leaves before I can even process the fact that Lily Evans just thanked me, ”Anytime, Evans.” I whisper to thin air as I get up and make way towards our compartment.

When I reach our compartment, I find Pads and Moons dozing off, leaning against each other. They look so peaceful unlike their troubled selves with their less than pleasant. Wormtail is nowhere to be seen, he must have gone to change his robes. 

I draw a privacy shield around me and change in the compartment itself. Just as I’m adjusting my tie, Wormtail enters, dressed in school robes as expected.

“Shouldn’t we wake these two up? We are almost there”, he whispers.

“ Nah, let them rest. Also Sirius hasn’t changed to robes on the train, since fourth year, so why now?”, they snicker and shake their heads at that, “As for Moony, it seems he will be forgoing all duties as a prefect this year. We already gave him the easiest jobs as is. Let him focus on his love life now.", He said signalling the sleeping heads. 

Just as the train is pulling into Hogsmeade station, we both wake Padfoot and Moony up. 

Moony wakes up first and a small smile forms on his face as he takes in the scene before hurriedly shifting away from Padfoot. Padfoot mumbles something about how he hasn't slept and should have been left to sleep some more. Moony just shakes his head  _ fondly _ but doesn't say anything.

They look dazed, they must have slept just after I had left with Lily. Remus becomes more aware as soon we start walking towards the carriages while Sirius is still grumbling under his breath. 

As soon as we get inside our dorm, Sirius passes out on  _ Moony's  _ bed, but not before shouting some garbled version of 'Don't wake me a minute before dinner'

Moony looks like he can't make the decision, so I being a good friend, make it for him," Just go and lie beside him. Both of us know you want to. Let's go and play chess by the fireplace, shall we Wormtail?"

Wormtail nods while Moony stammers something. Just as we leave, I see him  _ at last  _ getting into his bed, somewhat shyly.  _ They'll get there one day,  _ hopefully. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be up in two days, if not before. its already done, im just editing


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A jealous Sirius and some cuteness. Also we are introduced to another new character, who might have some significance later, who knows ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if you find mistakes, although I did start editing, I couldn't finish it coz me being a dumbass just wrote more instead of actually editing. Enjoy!!

  
  


*POV Sirius*

I felt warm and content when I felt myself waking up, I snuggled closer to the warm thing beside me, only for it to make a soft groan.  _ Wait groan?! _

Slowly I opened my eyes to find a peacefully asleep Remus Lupin at my side, snoring quietly. Looking around I notice that the dorm room is empty except for us. It must be late, I remember tumbling into Moony's bed but only vaguely. 

Glancing around I find my wand along with Moony's at the bedside table. Slowly, as to not not wake him up- he is a sensitive sleeper, waking up at the slightest sounds- he reaches his wand And casts a tempus which tells him it's bloody half past seven in the evening. Everyone must be at the Great Hall by now, he thinks. 

It breaks his heart to wake up Remus, it's very rare for him to sleep for such a long time, but he has no choice, does he?

He gently jostles him, "Moons, wake up it's time for dinner," _ if they even get some that is  _

"Huh? Yeah yeah I'm up." He grumbles against the pillow before slumping down. Sirius lets out a silent laugh at his childish behaviour but doesn't try again, if they miss dinner-which he is sure they'll, they can just go down to the kitchens and have something from the house elves, they quite like all of them, especially Moony. 

It's been a good minute or five before Moony actually gets up, eyes still closed, grumbling under his breath. 

He climbs off the bed and wakes into the washroom. Sirius knows he has approximately three minutes to get dressed before Moony comes out. He quickly gets up and looks down, he is in his Muggle clothes. Minnie will murder him if he so much as steps inside the Great Hall looking like this. The least he could do is adorn a school robe over his shirt and jeans. He discards his leather jacket on his bed.

Moony comes out in full uniform, when did he take that in?! Nevertheless he looks like a bloody Greek God, whilst he clasps his prefect badge to his tie. He looks over at me and shakes his head," Pads, you do realise that Minnie will have your head for going to the Great Hall for the first feast like _ that _ ? You are so gonna get a detention, that too on the first day. Only you, Sirius Black."

He gives him his most charming smile, "She loves me too much, Re. Minnie won't do no such a thing, I bet. The maximum punishment is just a glare from her, I tell you. She missed me too much." 

"Two galleons bet, then? You are so going to lose, Black."

"We'll see, won't be. Also that would be only if we actually arrive at time to even get some pudding. I'm famished."

"Me too, better get going, yeah?"

They both walk to the Great Hall, side by side. The whole castle is deserted, not even a ghost in sight. Everyone must be at the feast. They are so going to get hell for such tardiness.

Together, they swing open the doors, and everyone stares at them with unison. He gently squeezes Moony’s arm, much attention makes him nervous. 

At the Great Hall, Dumbledore’s twinkling eyes meet his.  _ Ugh he hates that man, all he does is twinkle his sodding eyes, as if he has no other reaction to anything, Anything.  _ Minnie is glaring at them, him in particular, probably due to his  **charming** attire, but her gaze is tender at the same time, he just might get spared this one time.

As they make their way to their friends, from the corner of his eye, he sees Reggie sitting with Snape and Lucius and others,  _ the future death eater lot.  _ He thinks he is staring back at Sirius, but that can’t be right, can it? When he fully moves his head towards him, it would appear he is glancing around the whole Hall to anyone watching; Reggie is talking with Dolohov. Reggie isn’t his brother anymore, not the one he grew up with, not the one he loves fiercely, not anymore; he reminds himself, the truth is bitter but it’s better than the hopes he gets at times that Reggie will come back to him. 

He breaks through his thoughts when he hears a voice saying,” Looking hot, Lupin.” a seventh year Ravenclaw, he registers as Moony blushes an embarrassing red in front of him. At that comment, many others shout some compliments as well, both boys and girls. Sirius gets furious instantly. Moony is his, he wants to snarl at them, but he knows that’s not true, not in the way he means. His stomach twists at that thought and he wants to go back, food be damned. He won’t eat now, anyways.

He looks up to find James at the front of the table, just after the firsties, with Pete beside him and  _ Lily across him. How the fuck did this even happen?!  _ Moony takes a seat beside Lily, so obviously, Sirius sits down beside him. As he had guessed, there’s only pudding left, the main course has gone. He doesn’t even feel like eating that even, at the moment. Many students across the hall are making eyes at  _ his  _ Moony. 

But that's the problem, ain’t it? Moony could never be his, even if he tried. Hell Moony doesn’t even like boys that way, probably. He has gone on exactly two dates in all their years at Hogwarts, both had been girls, bloody beautiful at that and it’s not like they can just go to the Yule together because that would be him being a delusional dumbass, if not anything else.

Even Lily compliments him for how handsome he looks in complete uniform. Across the table he sees James casting a jealous look towards them, ha at least he isn’t the only one being overzealous at the moment.

Moony places two chocolate pastries in front of him and starts savouring them, expressing in obscene sound how good it tastes. It makes Sirius uncomfortably hot, which he rather not be, not in front of hundreds of Hogwarts students.

Looking around he sees the firstie right beside him, like him, they also aren't even touching their plate.  _ That's weird,  _ he thinks. He remembers his first feast, it had felt like Christmas had come early, such exquisite delicacies and such taste that Kreacher would have never been able to replicate, he remembers that day crystal clear, even the following day which had started with not less than four howlers, all from his mother.

“Hey kid, why aren’t you eating?” He asks, no one should be miserable on their first day or rather first feast. 

“Huh? No no nothing, I’m full, that is all.”

“I don’t think so, tell me. It will help.”

“I…. I miss home and those guys from the train told me that….that I’m not a real girl and….and I wouldn’t be able to get inside the girl dorms. What if they are actually right? Would I be forced to live in the boys dorm then? Would they send me home then?” 

“I’m sure nothing of that sort is going to happen. What if I personally accompany you there? Will that make you feel better?”

She nods her head, “That’s all planned then, why don’t you have some pudding now?”

She tentatively picks up some treacle tart and slowly takes a bite, then beams at me. At Least someone is not going hungry to bed tonight. It’s not like I haven’t gone hungry to bed before, whether due to the letters of mother dearest or something else. Hah, what would I give to have a normal life, loving parents, normal siblings. At Least I have got friends, the best one could even dream of. 

“Pads, why aren’t you eating something?” Moony said, bringing him out of his reverie.

“Huh? Just like that, not hungry.”

“Not hungry my arse. Weren’t you complaining about being famished? Here, have some cake.” Before he could even reply, he shoved a spoonful of cake into Sirius’s mouth. 

“Mmmmm…….tastes good,” 

“I know, and here you were saying you weren’t hungry.” Moony said in a somewhat rough voice. He continued feeding him, while the others gawked in shock.  _ Remus Lupin was sharing his chocolate cake,  _ were they all hallucinating. 

Soon enough dinner was over and they started to make way towards the dorms. As promised, after conferring with both James and Lily, he accompanied the firstie. They made Moony accompany them and said that he doesn’t need to do any other rounds that night.

_ Ah the perks for having both Head Boy and Girl as your mates. _

  
  


On their way towards the dorms, he got to know that the girl’s name was Clare and she is a muggleborn. He had a strong feeling to protect the kid so he promised himself that he would, through everything, especially all the bullying she would get for her blood status.

After Clare went to her dorm, he started playing exploding snap with the others while they waited for James and Lily to return from their rounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear your thoughts! Also kudos are love <3
> 
> Reach me out on my insta @_slytherin_bitch_


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where James surprises Lily with his actions and there is a truth and dare game

*POV Lily*

“Thanks Evans.”

“No problem, Black.” He flinches at that but doesn’t say anything. He gives a tight smile to James when he subtly touches his arm and they turn to leave the Hall with the first year. Everyone else leaves the Hall just after them.

The incident of Remus feeding  _ his  _ chocolate pudding to Black has left everyone who knows him shell shocked, so everyone stares at him as they leave with the kid.

Soon we make way towards greenhouses; we have decided to start from there and complete exactly in front of the portrait of The Fat Lady. James made the enroute and I must admit, that guy knows the castle like the back of his hand. 

We walk in silence, I’ve no idea what to say to the bloke who has been proposing to you since second year welcoming feast and that same guy whom you have rejected each and every time.  _ Wait a second- _ he hasn’t proposed to me tonight! That's so weird, it has been a ritual of his to ask me on the first and last feast and whenever in between. Does that mean he has given up? And why does that make me feel disappointed so much?! Lily Evans you should be overcome with joy, Potter has at last given up on embarrassing you at each chance he gets! Why are you feeling sad? I don’t have-

“Is that a kid there?” Ja- _ wtf it’s Potter- _ says, breaking my chain of thought and yeah that is a kid standing in the middle of the corridor, looking every bit of scared and horrified.

“Yeah that seems to be the case,” I shout towards them, “Hey kid, what are you doing in here?”

They look up towards us and he appears a bit relieved, they run towards us and I recognize him from the sorting last year, he is in Slytherin if I am not wrong-  _ shit Potter hates Slytherins-  _ I would make sure he doesn’t bully him.

James bends down so he is at the kid’s height, the kid tenses slightly when he recognizes James but he hides it well.

To my utter surprise, when James actually speaks he asks, “Why are you here, kid? It’s almost after hours and this is an abandoned area.”

“I…. I wanted to go to the washroom while we were returning and Stevie said to use this one as it would be empty and near the entrance so it would be okay. But after I came out, he was nowhere to be found and….and I don’t know how to get back from there and I thought this might be the way.” His voice quivvers a bit as if he is afraid that James will punish him or something but James sports a gentle expression.

“It’s alright. You from Slytherin right?” he nods towards his tie, “You came the opposite way but don’t you worry we’ll escort you to the dungeons. Which year are you anyways?”

“Se….second year.”

“Ah yes, that explains the not knowing this path.”

He keeps softly talking to him as we make way to the dungeons; asking about his classes, if he likes pranking and what not. By the time we reach, the kid is actually smiling, he waves at us as he enters the dorms. 

We assume our patrols as if nothing has happened, maybe I was really wrong to think that James is still the bully he had been a year ago, it’s clear that he has changed a lot. Remus had told me the same but I thought that it was just him helping his best friend impress his crush, perhaps she was wrong. They meet quite many people on their way, most of them prefects, only a few students but all of them turn out to be a seventh year and a friend of either or both of them so they let them go with a warning, as if they would take points  _ for that _ .

Soon enough  _ Potter  _ is mumbling ‘licorice’ and they enter the common room, he says how these passwords always make him crave for sweets and I, despite myself, give him a smile. 

They find all their friends sitting in a big circle around the common room, playing snap as they usually do, Lily had joined for a game or two but not more than that. 

“Hey Lils, we’ve been waiting for you both, let's play something, yeah?” Frank asks her, the others look at her with hopeful expressions and she finds herself agreeing without much thought.

“So what shall we play? No snap, I’m officially pants at that.” She says as she sits down on the sofa next to Black and Remus. Those two are sitting extremely close for them to be ‘friends’ or whatever bullshit they say. The whole of Gryffindor knows about those two at this point, it’s a matter of time before they see it themselves or maybe it would take them forever, as dumb they get around each other. 

James who is sitting between Pettigrew and Frank suggests, “Truth or Dare then? It’s been ages since we last did that!”

“Make it dirty then I’m in!” Marls yells from the farthest corner where she was, clearly having a snog session with Dorcas.

“Also the defaulter has to take a shot of firewhiskey.” Alice adds.

“Where would we even find a bottle, honey? That too at this hour.” she asks her.

“Evans, you worry about all the wrong things.” Black smirks at her as he accios a bottle from their dorm.

Minutes later, all of the seventh years are sitting in a more distinct circle. An empty bottle of  _ Firewhiskey  _ in the middle with shots all around them another half filled bottle on the side.  _ Seriously how many bottles do these guys have and from where do they bloody get them?  _ She makes a mental point to ask Remus later during their weekly library book discussions. 

“Who would like to start?” Black flashes a malicious grin and she knows this is going to bollocks if she knows him even a little.

“Why don’t we spin the bottle for the first time and then it goes clockwise?”

“Now that’s a good idea, Pete. So spin the bottle, whatcha waiting for?” Remus grins at his as he sets the bottle to spin. It lands on Frank first. 

“So Frankie, what’s it’s gonna be? Truth or dare.” She asks.

He shoots a half-hearted glare at her for her beautiful nickname and says, “I don’t trust you fuckers enough to choose a dare, not this early into the game. So truth it is.”

“Aww you are no fun, Frankie,” Marlene fake groans, “ Tell us who would you shag in this room among the boys if you’re bent?”

“Marls, my girlfriend is sitting right beside me.”

“By the looks of it, your girlfriend seems quite interested in your answer.”

He looks down at Alice who is cuddled in his arms, he sighs when she looks at him with an amused expression, “Fine, the lucky bloke would be none other than Sirius.”

“What can I say, I’m quite charming.” He winks at Frank and most of them laugh at that, Remus, Lily notices, looks mad furious. She hopes that he doesn’t burn up something again with his uncontrolled magic.

“Okay next one is Charles, so what would it be then?” she asks.

“Dare, definitely.” He grins at her and she arcs an eyebrow at him although she is smiling.

“Kiss Remus.” She gives a cool look to him whilst from the corner of her eye, sees that it’s Sirius who is fuming this time and glaring at her.  _ Someone’s gotta make you both get your heads out of your arses, isn’t it,  _ she smirks inwardly.

“Now that is just taking advantage of my pansexuality,” he complains but gets up and stops in front of Remus who is blushing furiously, “May I?”

Remus gives a slow, if not a hesitant nod. Charles being the gentleman he is, just pecks his cheek, even as the others protest that it was unfair.

Charles just shrugs and says, “Well, Lily didn’t specify and all of us know who Remus has an eye for at the moment. Isn’t it, Re?”

They all chuckle at that while Sirius has a thoughtful and albeit a sad look on his face.

The game had continued for many hours, all of them getting drunker by the minute. Just taking shots even when they play their turn. Lily had three shots, although she had forfeited once when asked who she would like to snog in all of Hogwarts but that’s all. James had been asked about his current crush at one point, he had just said that everyone knew it already. Remus, the bastard he is, gave Lily a slight smirk and insisted upon saying the name, James had  _ forfeited. _

Lily was touched by that gesture, if you could call it that. He hadn’t embarrassed her publicly, maybe Remus was right after all, Potter had matured over the past year but she was yet to believe that fully. For now she just wants a good sleep and hopefully a hangover potion in the morning, which Remus has promised to deliver to all of them. He has a lot of them, self-made, for situations like these because ‘you never know when these three blokes have a urge to get pissed outta their minds even on a fucking school night.’ But the fond tone suggested that he was not at all bothered by their behaviour.  _ Ah, boys, they are like that, aren’t they? Doing anything for their mates. _

** But for now, sleep takes her away from the real world. **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah the truth and dare game was more or less non existent, do you people want me to increase chapter lenghts? I probably should tbh! Also there would be more truth-dares and other games as well, suggest me some please!!!!! As always kudos and comments make my day!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lily is astonished, Sirius gets a letter and we get some insight about Minnie and Sirius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! It's been a week and here I'm; its very late here and I feel dead tired but here is a chapter so enjoy!!!!

Sirius wakes up to the sound of James yelling something at him from the door of their dorm, he is saying something about getting breakfast and the hangover potion being on their bedside table. That bloke wakes up at six when they drink the night before, as if he had never even heard of the word hangover. He is the one who makes the potion even though Remus always promises to make it for them. Casting a tempus he sees that its almost eight so he has almost an hour before breakfast vanishes.

Remus is sleeping beside him--as in the bed beside him, you people have a bad mind-- snoring softly. They have to get up soon, he realises with great distaste, its the first day afterall and a hangover is the last thing he wants Minnie to detect. So he gets up and goes to the bathroom. He would wake up Remus after he is done, that bloke is lightning fast when it comes to getting ready.

He looks like a right mess as he peers into the mirror, his hair dishevelled and there is a faint stubble, on which he uses a shaving spell, one which his father taught him about, three years ago when he had hope that Sirius would ultimately turn out to be the perfect heir of the Noble Family of the Black-- _ ha how that turned out. _

It takes him approximately twenty minutes to go through with his skin routine, shower and dress up. He still has a headache but it is a bit manageable, he is sure he will feel fresh as a daisy when downs the potion. James’ potions are always of high quality and super effective at that. Perks of having a potioneer as a father, one might suppose but its his own dedication and skill.

It takes a lot of pestering and chocolatey bribes to wake Moony up, he gives Sirius a small smile as he disappears behind the bathroom door, coming out in record time, looking hot as ever. Sirius suddenly feels a little bit hot beneath his collar and it takes a whole minute to control the direction of his thoughts, thank Merlin that Moony was taking his potion at that time. Together they descend the stairs, to find Prongs giving Evans a vial, which she drinks rather dubiously.

“That was absolutely perfect, Potter. How can you make such a thing when you fail to do your daily classes?”

“That’s because Prongs can be a bloody genius when he  _ wants _ to be, Evans. Plus he is just behind you in Potions.” he answers in place of Prongs who is quite flushed at the compliment. 

“Well Black one can always think there was some other element involved, can’t they?”

“One should never assume as much, Evans.”

There is a weird silence which is broken by Moony who says, “Well I’m all up for listening to you both argue about Prongs’ potions skills but could we go and grab some brekkie first? I’m fucking hungry for some scones, if nothing else.”

“As if you would go on through the day without some treacle first,” Sirius mutters under his breath as they leave the common room, after leaving a few vials labelled for their fellow friends who probably wouldn’t be joining them before first period.

….

Just as Sirius was reaching for the pudding a black owl flew in--and fuck if he didn’t recognise that owl the moment it flew in. It landed just in front of him, his appetite vanishing.

It stuck out his leg, and he hesitantly took out the scroll which was tied there, he is sure that it was from his mother dearest. The black family crest with its three crows made him much more clear. Normally this letter came on the second or third day of school but perhaps his mother missed the pleasure of tormenting him all summer thus it came so early. Not that she hadn’t sent almost a hundred in the summer itself but most of them were burnt before he read them-his mother surely knew that somehow. All his classmates are, as of now, looking at him in curiosity because no one gets letters on their first days,  _ no one. _

It takes him a while to control his rage, his magic going out of control would be of no good here. He slowly stands-very well aware of Evans looking at him with a confused expression. Prongs’ signalling towards her, Moony trying to get up with him. He squeezes Moony’s hand lightly and shakes his head, he doesn’t want him to leave with him now. He glances at Prongs and gives him a nod, he seems to understand.

He leaves the Great Hall at a normal pace or at least he tries to, he probably doesn’t fool many--not the ones who are looking. His brother is looking at him with a look of concern, but when they lock eyes he averts his gazeaway as the Black mask falling into place. He rushes past the handful of students who are outside to the dorm. There is no one when he enters the common room and thats a relief in itself, he doesn’t think he can look at anyone right now.

Their dorm is empty as it should be, the beds have already been made. It’s all very neat and tidy, not a speck of dust in place. He looks down at his letter, he can feel the dark magic pulsing through it, he can’t read it now, he just  _ can’t  _ so makes the decision of keeping it away-at least til the end of dinner but after everyone has gone to bed, maybe then.

It takes him ten more minutes to calm his nerves, to feel okay even if that fear, that uneasy feeling still resides in his stomach that only after will go away or rather become something much more larger and much less manageable.

He goes down to the common room to find Dorcas and Frank draining down their phials of hangover potion by the look of it.

“Where are both of your beloveds?” he asks.

“We can ask you the same, can’t we?” Dorcas counters back.

“I….I have no idea what you are on about, D!” he stutters at them,  _ what the actual fuck  _ he thinks to himself,  _ they cannot possibly know about Remus, can they? _

“Of course, I’m sure Cass was just taking the mickey out of you, weren’t you Cass?” Frank responds.

“Yes yes of course, why did you think of someone. Siri?”

“What! No no, absolutely not. Whatever might give you the idea.”  _ Thank Merlin. _

They are interrupted by Charles who barges in, looking around the room before it settles on them, he gives all of them his charming smile and says, “Yakking, are we? That too five minutes before class, nice,” his mouth curves into a smirk, “ So none of you have any fear left for McGonagall any longer? Or what?”

They all go into an  _ oh-shit  _ expressions and rush out of class, hurrying down the stair to the transfiguration classroom, just in time or rather a minute late but when has he ever cared about that. Moreover, it’s Minnie and she adores all of them, whatever else she might say. They have just taken their seats when she enters, closing the door behind her.

“Late on the first day, Mr. Black? And I see you have influenced others as well, I’ll let you off just this once seeing its the first day after all and no one would like getting a week of detention today.” she has a faint smile on her face and he knows he isn’t really in trouble, never was.

“So good morning to all of you, since you are the first class today and being your head of the House I’ve some things I want to point out, especially to the Head Girl and Boy since both are from my House. So you two would stay after class.”

She says a few other things about discipline and behaviour with glances directed at him from time to time, probably to emphasize but he hasn’t ever paid much heed to rules and Minnie knows that well. Hell, last year she turned a blind eye when they had relentlessly hexed some of the Muggleborn haters and afterwards given them the  _ punishment  _ of doing an extra inch or two on their transfiguration homeworks, as if they don’t normally write three or more extra inches already, just because they love the subject. She loves them all and they all know it and for a moment Sirius imagines what it would be like to have her as his mum, to spend summers learning transfiguration and not being subject to vicious dark magic from time to time. She would have been his perfect mum, as much as she scolds him, she wouldn’t be disappointed in him like the way his own mother is, even at his achievements- top marks in transfiguration plus arithmancy, the least he had got was an E in Herbiology and still his mother had been displeased, sending three howlers on how incompetent lest one or two weren’t quite enough. He would have been happy at least, with a mother who loves him if not anything else, although he does have the Potters and they are family enough to him.

He is brought up short from his reverie as the bell rings, dismissing them all. They all get up from their chairs and head towards the door as Minnie dismisses them, except Evans and Prongs who move towards the desk. Just as he is going to leave, Minnie’s voice stops him, “Sirius, a word before you go,” her voice is quiet but loud enough for him to hear. He motions Moony and Wormtail to go on without him, as he makes his way towards where the trio is huddled together.

She motions him to sit as she talk with Prongs and Evans, he has no idea what Minnie has to say on the first day, hopefully not code of conduct or any of that bollocks. A minute or two later, she turns to him as she dismisses the others, “Sirius, are you alright?”

“Minnie, you worry too much, what would happen to your favourite boy, huh?” he gives her his best smile, even though he knows what exactly she is referring to. She doesn’t object to being called by the nickname they gave them in fifth year, not even to him referring himself as her favourite, they both know its true.

He gets a faint smile, “If you insist on being obtuse so be it, but remember you can come here anytime for some tea if not anything else,” she touches his arm ever-so-slightly in a motherly touch and Sirius almost cries then and there. Almost, except he smiles at her, “I know, Minnie, I’ve taken up on that offer one-too-many times as is.”

She nods and dismisses him, but not before giving him a chocolate biscuit--it helps with the nerves, she had said but he knows better.

The other classes are a series of blur with a whiff of homework here and a smear of advice there. Sirius has his mind on the piece of expensive parchment tucked in his trunk. Soon it’s midnight and everyone is heading off to their warm beds after a long day of exhaustion. 

In the dorm, Moony sits on his bed reading yet another book while Prongs and Wormtail play chess, he takes out a cigarette and lits it up, exhaling a puff of smoke in front of the open window. He wonders where his brother is, he hadn’t seen him all day except at breakfast when he was leaving and it makes him uneasy if he doesn’t see him at meal-times. 

Its after one when they all start going to bed, casting a discreet glance at him, each of them. He ignores all of them and pretends to sleep as well, somehow they believe him and turn the lumos off. He lays there for an hour, contemplating anything and everything around him. When he is absolutely sure that they all are dead asleep, he tip-toes out of the dorm, letter clutched in hand which he had taken out earlier discreetly.

No one is present in the common room, as it should be. He sits on the floor in front of the fire place and starts reading the ever-so-elegant script of his mother dearest.

  
  


_ Sirius Orion Black, _

_ I was shocked to find that you have in fact taken this leaving your home quite seriously for mine or your father’s liking. We had thought you would get out of this phase. It does not look good that the eldest son of the Noble Family of Black, one of the Sacred Twenty Eight does not come home any longer and is fraternizing with half-bloods and filthy werewolves, although I’m pleased you’ve also taken up the company of the Potters who are at the very least deemable for our standards.  _

_Your father has also expressed his displeasure at all the posters and other things that we found in your room, most of which are stuck with some type of permanent sticking charm. I, for one, am very_ _disgusted when I found out that you are a damned poof. That is no son of mine, but I’m sure this is all included in this phase of rebellion you are going through and soon you’ll be back to your senses. Let me remind you son, that as the eldest son of the family, it is upon you to produce an heir of thy own blood and not those blood adoptions those slags do to make someone their own. They live in a fool’s paradise if they believe that all that is actually true. I hope you do understand that well and carry out your sole responsibility._

_ You would be pleased to know that Regulus, being the perfect son he always has been, is going to take the Mark; come Christmas. It is the highest honour one can procure, one given to us in a silver platter while others hound for it, still. All would be forgiven, if you visit us this Christmas and take the Mark yourself as well. Prove to be worthy of your name, prove all the whispers of being a traitor to be wrong. I would make sure that no one tells you a word for being a shirtlifter, if that is afterall true. _

_ Think about it son, a better opportunity would not present itself. All the shame, all the humiliation for being a damnable Gryffindor, all that gone the moment you present yourself in front of the Dark Lord. _

_ Warm regards, _

_ Walburga Mary Elizabeth Black. _

He sees red after reading the whole letter, it takes him a moment to realise that he is shaking, he is about to crumble the paper in his hands when he hears his name from afar and a moment later he is thrown against the sofa. 

“Are you out of your fucking mind? What the actual buggering fuck!” The person says, his eyes are closed but he can recognise it, he knows it well but at the moment his mind is too out of control to place it. It takes him three slow deep breaths before he opens his eyes. When he sees the person standing in front of him, concern and anger written on their face; he is surprised. Never had he expected them to just throw him like that and Circe knows for what reason.

As he opens his mouth to speak, they say, “Look at your fucking hand and you’ll bloody well understand why I did that.” Sure enough, his hand is a bit burnt at his fingertips and he understands, still it comes as a shock that they would do something like that for  _ him. _

So he just stares blankly at them, waiting for some kind of explanation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses on who this person could be? I bet all of you will be wrong :))


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of Sirius' backstory and new friendships being formed.
> 
> TW: SLIGHT MENTION OF ABUSE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! Hope you people are well! Here's a chapter update. I'm trying to lengthen the chapters and also trying to post earlier......anyways enjoy!!!

*POV Lily*

Even after a day of exhaustion, sleep doesn’t come to Lily. Nowadays it rarely does to most of them, too much danger around. So she goes down to the common room, only to find Black sitting a bit too near to the fireplace with a --by the look of it-- letter in his hand.

Just as she about to call him out, he gets closer to the fire and the letter bursts in flames but he doesn't seem to notice so she does the next thing that comes to her mind, she flicks the letter out of his hands and at the same time throws him towards the couch away from the fire.

He doesn't react at first, he just sits there with his eyes closed and when he opens them at last, he has a blank look which quickly turns into an expression of confusion. When she tells him to look at his hands, he finally understands but the look of confusion still prevails in his features.

"Why…." He starts but quickly closes his mouth, nonetheless she understands what he means.

"Don't tell me, Black that you think so low of me that you can't believe that I would save your hand from burning along with that letter."

He looks at the letter, if it still can be called one, only a small middle portion of it is left. His gaze then flickers to Lily and he just stares at her, for a moment then another then another until she sits down next to him and gently squeezes his hand. Something inside her tells her that it would be the right thing to do, and when she feels him relax, just a little, next to her, she knows she did.

"What is it, Sirius? What happened, tell me?" She just feels that it wouldn't do good to call him by his last name, she has seen him flinch--even if it isn’t really noticeable-- enough by now to conclude that it isn't something he likes that much. 

For a moment she thinks that he will just tell her to sod the fuck off and she wouldn't really blame him, they never have been on the best of terms before, even now--since they started talking in groups-- they aren't that close, she doesn't really know him, not a thing about him if she is being absolutely honest about it. They--Potter and him-- have been a bit of bullies in the first few years, hexing people for no reasons, pranking others mercilessly but slowly she had found a pattern, Remus had helped her as well. She had questioned him a lot of times about why he had been their friend, time and again Remus had tried telling her that they didn’t do anything bad, not to innocent people but Lily never believed him. By fifth year, she was so frustrated with their behaviour that she had started investigating on her own, to find clues and proofs to get them their deserved punishment. It was, then that she saw the pattern, something which made her respect the boys, they had been attacking other bullies and getting their names dirty in the process but they didn’t care much for it. It had been the reason most teachers didn’t say anything to them, especially McGonagall. 

They even hexed Severus when he called her the M-word, not that she needed them to; but she is grateful, still, that they did, she wouldn’t have been able to hex that bastard even after everything. That's just who she is and there is still a part of her which regrets letting them do that, Severus had been afterall still her friend, but everything is done now and she can’t do anything about it, not that she wants to, not after Severus’ behaviour in the past few months before the end of sixth year. Black shifts beside her and she is brought back to the present again.

“Evans, do you know that my family is pureblood? Just like James’?”

“Yes, I do. You both belong to the Sacred Twenty Eight. I read that in Ancient Studies, both your families were mentioned.”

“Yes of course. But what you need to understand is both our families are vastly,  _ vastly  _ different from one another. Or shall I say, James’ family is the only one among the Sacred Twenty Eight which has a good lot of humanity left in them, along with love, kindness and other non-important stuff.” he air quotes the ‘non-important’ with his hands and gives me a sad smile. Lily has no idea how she should reply, but Sirius starts before she could think of something.

“It is very common in pureblood Wizarding families to use magic when needed to ‘discipline' their children or rather their heirs, because children that we never were. It all had been quite fine you see? I wasn’t the perfect heir but I was heir enough. I did the piano classes, took the french lesson, even the dancing tutors couldn’t complain about me .Yes, I could tell the number of carats of a diamond just by glancing at it, could say whether a object is Goblin wrought or not but those were a result of my upbringing and nothing else. Somehow I never fit in, not with their ways or customs. I was still adequate but all hell broke loose when on 1st September, 1971; I was sorted into the House of Gryffindor--the House containing most of the half-bloods, filthy creatures born from Muggle families and traitorous purebloods among other stuff.  _ Shit, _ I’m rambling about that shit again. I’m sorry Evans, I must have bored you.”

Lily is mute, she has no words, her eyes sting a bit, she can only imagine what must have Sirius endured in the years after being sorted. She shakes her head at him and then she finds her voice, “Just get it all out, believe me it would feel better when you do. I can listen through the night if you need me, I’ll be here with you.” she doesn’t know why she says that or what makes her say that but she means it, she would be with him, til he feels better.

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, “The news spread like wildfire Sirius Black, heir to the Noble Family of the Black, being a bloody Gryffindor. You can’t imagine what that year’s Christmas hols had been for me. They thought they could just beat it or rather crucio it out of me, ha as if. They barged into the Headmaster’s office a day before the break ended to re-sort me. McGonagall had been present there at that time in place of Dumbledore. She had been oh-so-furious, it was a sight. My parents just pulled some strings and within two hours I was being re-sorted. See how that one turned out?” he quirks a smile at her, a short laugh on his lips.

“Prongs helped a lot, he was like my brother but an older one. The one who protected me, one who took the curses and hexes this time, who took the blame for each and every mistake of mine. Remember when a sudden cold descended throughout the common room in third year, in the middle of Jan? Making everything so much more colder and all, how he had said it had been his accidental magic, he had apologized for that because if people even got a whiff that it had been me, my parents would have as good as killed me. The summers were worse, almost being starved, being kept away from my own brother, lest I make him like me. I still tried what I could to protect that boy, but it wasn’t good enough. At Least he was out of harm’s way when he got sorted into Slytherin. The rest is history, Evans. It’s times like this when it bubbles up again, it will go away within a few days.”

  
  


“Sirius….I can’t even imagine all that, you are so brave. I’ve no idea how you endured all that but from now on I’ll try my best to protect you or avenge you in my way, I promise you that.” he smiles at her, amused at her words but his eyes, they tell her that he believes her, so she asks him something she’ve been waiting to since he started telling her all this.

“Why didn’t you leave?”

“Oh I did. I left the summer last year. After a few nasty words and nastier curses thrown my way. I didn’t want to because of Reggie but I knew I had to, at that time or I won’t live so I did. Packed up my bag and apparated to James’, he always said I would be welcomed there no matter what, and I was. I still am, his parents are mine now as well.” he sighs, looking into the fire.

“Potter must be a really good mate.”

“He is my brother, really. He has helped me through a lot in all these years, with his support and love and whatnot. I used to visit all the time during summer and those few hours were my solace and peace. I used to wait eagerly for those visits. Euphemia and Fleamont always cared for me as their own. Even volunteered to buy all my stuff for the last two years, I still have my inheritance or a part of it, I would get it in parts as I get older, so I refused. My mother still hopes I’ll come back to my senses and return home to be their perfect heir and son again, producing heirs and doing business. I am supposed to present myself in front of Voldemort this Christmas and play perfect son, deserving of my name and upbringing. My mother, lovely woman that she is, says that she would forgive or rather forget that I’m a ‘shirtlifter’ if I do that, if I take the Dark Mark along with Reggie. That's what she wrote in the letter, I have half a mind to show up wearing my Gryffindor jersey and a boyfriend along with me, just to spite them and leave just before taking the damnable Mark.”

“I never knew all of this….”

“No one does, except the four of us, to be fair and now you. I don’t have any idea why I told you all that. But you’re right, it does feel a bit better, a whole lot better to be honest. Thanks for listening Evans.”

“I think knowing one’s story deserves being called by first names, so it would be Lily for you. And wait, did you say you  _ apparated to Potters’? _ ”

“Damn it, woman. I tell you so much and you still focus on the illegal part?” He has an amused expression and he curves his mouth which tells me, Sirius Black is back again. “We all can apparate since the starting of sixth year, we have been practicing all summer that year so yeah. We did a lot of things throughout the years, things you really wouldn’t want to know, Lily.”

From there they move to lighter topics, she gets to know the actual Sirius Black, somewhat at least. He isn’t that bad to be, kind of funny and charming. She understands why McGonagall adores him so much, he already has won her heart. She knows she would trust Sirius Black with her life now, she would protect him as much as she can; he just got that charm on him that makes people just love him. It’s six o’ clock when they stop at last. 

“Well Lily, it was lovely to know. Hope we continue being friends!” he puts forward his hand for a shake, she just engulfs him in a hug.

“I don’t just shake hands with my friends, Sirius.” she smiles at him and he beams back at her. He starts towards the door then, which confuses her so she asks where he is going.

“To the kitchens, of course. I really want a cuppa right now and sleep isn’t going to be coming to me now. So why not make the most of the day?”

“Mind if I join, heaven knows I would love one as well.” he shrugs and together they go down to the kitchens. 

The elves are already preparing breakfast by the look of it, when they notice Sirius they all cluster around him asking what he needs. He asks Lily, her choice of biscuits and soon the elves have made everything up and tell them to go to the common room, it will be there. Sirius is not at all surprised when one of them, Dancy-he calls her- presses another cup of something different in a mug to him, rather he thanks her for remembering and they leave.

Before she could even ask, Sirius answers her question, “I mostly come alone or with Re at times, they now just give me his cup of hot chocolate without even questioning. It’s like they just know, and they adore Re so much that at times they get really sad if he doesn’t come at nights or morning like this with me.”

“Ah…. so that’s what this is about. You being all sweet and sappy for my best friend.”

“Well he is my best friend as well, you know.”

“Yes of course. So is Potter, just saying.” he narrows his eyes at her but he has a tinge of pink on his cheeks as well, so she knows she hit the spot perfectly. 

She smirks to herself, mentally as they walk back, looking around at Hogwarts waking up around them slowly.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will be of Remus's pov, so hehe I'm already grinning at the thought.
> 
> Kudos and comments are lovely so leave some <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a happy Sunday, ending with chocolatey sweetness and games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! Hope you all are well! I just received some awesome books so I'm quite happy atm so excuse my excitement!!!!! Here's a chapter for ya, hope you like it! <3

*POV Remus*

Remus wakes up a bit after seven in the morning. The birds are chirping outside, sunshine filters into the room through the curtains, basking the room in a welcome warmth. He sits up on his bed and stretches his arms, feeling well rested after a long time. The moon is far away, there is little worry in the world right now, at this very moment. When he opens his eyes, the first thing he notices is a cuppa on his side table, steaming hot under a statis spell. 

He takes a sip and  _ damn this is literally the best way to start this perfect morning.  _ He takes a few more sips, noticing that Sirius isn’t in his bed, it’s properly made even, so Merlin knows when he woke up or if he actually slept or not. He has that tendency to not tell them stuff at times, sometimes Remus catches him going out of the dorm and he tags along so that he wouldn’t feel lonely. He freshens up in record time and goes down to the common room in hopes of finding Sirius, clutching the cuppa in one hand. James is already in the bathroom when he leaves so he won’t be far behind, that bloke is faster that him nowadays.

What he sees when he goes down is a shock to his fucking system. Sirius and Lily are sitting at one of the study tables,  _ chatting and drinking tea.  _ He stares at them for a good five minutes, mouth wide open,  _ what a day! _

They are laughing at something Sirius tells and they are sharing a plate of chocolate digestives. 

“Am I dreaming or is that Pads and Lily talking with one another nicely?” James asks, he must have not noticed him coming down. 

“Looks like that to me, mate. But I’m a hell lot confused as to how.”

That’s when they notice them and both of them smile at them and wave them over. 

“Heya! Good morning!” Lily says, at the same time Sirius goes, “What’s up, fuckers?”

He is too enthusiastic, something must be wrong. We murmur our pleasantries, James takes a sip from Sirius’s cup and sits down beside him while I take the opposite seat, beside Lily.

“Aren’t we free to do whatever we want today?” Sirius asks.

“Damn right, we are.” he replies back, still trying to unearth this mysterious friendship between his crush and best friend.

“Let’s go down to the Lake and fly about a bit?” James suggests.

“Cool but me and Re are not joining you guys, okay Re?” Lily asks him. That girl knows him well, he doesn’t really like flying, it makes him feel uneasy.

He smiles at her and replies, “That would be great, Lils. we could catch up on our book discussion as well. Two birds with one stone, yeah?”

Before she can say anything, Dorcas, Marlene and Alice come down from the dorms, chatting animatedly among themselves. They greet them and ask what they are doing, and decide to join them. 

So after breakfast, most of the seventh year Gryffindors along with some of the Puffs make their way towards the Lake, all of them clutching either brooms or satchels. 

  
  


……….

He and Lily are just finishing some Herbiology work, their book discussion complete when the others come down. It’s almost time for lunch and all of them are sweaty and hungry. 

Sirius drops his broom beside him and gives him a lopsided smile, “I am about to do something really stupid, join me?”

“Go on, let’s see what this idea might be and I will decide.” Remus folds his arms above his head and looks smugly at him.

Sirius shots him a small, quick smile before running towards the Lake.  _ He has gone completely nuts, _ Remus thinks as Sirius dives into the Lake. He gets many cheers and some, followed by James, dive in as well. 

“Look at those idiots” Lily remarks, “Let’s join them, shall we?”

“I was thinking what the catch would be.” He beams at her as he drops his robes and joins the others at the Lake. All three of them wave at him and splash him. He lunges forward and it goes on, until all of them are wet as a drowned rat.

They lay by the bank, bathing in the sunshine, only Charles had used a drying charm while the others had decided to dry naturally in the sun; all their stomachs rumbling like some kind of animal in pain. He doesn’t have the energy to get up and walk back to the castle for lunch or any kind of food so he just lays there. 

“Here,” Sirius says from beside him, he looks over to find a chocolate bar in his hand, “I always carry some, just for you.” He smiles again as he drops it on his stomach. Remus is too hungry to even say something other than a quick thanks and a smile. He takes a bite, tasting that heavenly chocolate mixed with some caramel and something else. If only food orgasms were real, he would be having one now.

It’s after dusk that they get up and make way towards the castle again. He wakes at the back of the crowd with Sirius, whose hand keeps making contact with his and making his insides tingle. Just as they come near the stairs, Sirius grabs his hand and says, “Let’s get some food for everyone, Circe knows I’m famished. What do you say?” 

Remus’s voice has officially left him, he just nods his head as Sirius calls out to the others, informing them. James smirks at him while Peter looks amused.

As they walk towards the kitchens, he stares at Sirius. The way his hair has dried in a mess, looking so much like James’, his pink lips which look really kissable right now, the way their hands are still together, he doesn’t want him to notice that, not yet anyways. As if reading his thoughts, he looks down at their hands and loosens his grasp and Remus misses the warmth almost immediately, at the same time he can feel the warmth of Sirius’ hands.

He tickles the pear and a moment later they are surrounded by elves, their squeaky voices enquiring him about his absence this morning when Sirius had come with the pretty witch. When they say that she’ll be good for Sirius, he laughs internally. If only they knew that Sirius is more bent than a pirate’s hook. He smiles at Sirius instead who in return just glares.

“Yes, we’ll see about that one,” he says all the while keeping his glare in place, “Could you provide some foods for all of the seventh year Gryffindors, please?”

Dancy and Ghanker step forward and say in sync, “We would love to, sirs. We has no problem in providing food stuffs for all of sirs’ friends.”

“What would sirs likes to has? We can give pumpkin pastries, cauldron cakes, chocolate bars, chips and crisps both, or any other stuffs that sirs want.”

“Let’s take some of everything but chips and crisps in more quantity? So anyone could have what they want.” he asks Sirius, who nods towards the elves. They start hustling around immediately, gathering things and proceeding to place them on one of the many tables present. Notter comes up to them, a tad bit shyly and presses forward a bowl of something chocolate. 

“Notter has been making new chocolate things for sirs, would sirs like to has some?” he looks nervous, as if they might reject him. He shakes his head to himself and smiles down at the elf. 

“We would love to, Notter. Afterall it was made specially for us.” He takes the bowl from his hand and eats a spoonful, now  _ that  _ is something he wants to eat for the rest of his life. He moans as the chocolate just melts in his mouth, tasting like liquid heaven, his eyes closed as to taste it better. “That tastes so  _ good _ Notter! Could you make me some for the rest of my life?”

“Notter makes it for the sirs everyday then, til they leaves school.” he smiles at him and looks up at Sirius who is standing there, still as a statue with flushed cheeks. When he waves a hand at him, he blinks and puts his hand out for some of the chocolate which Remus reluctantly gives. Sirius has the same reaction to the chocolate, perhaps a little less outrageous. The elves tell them that they would transfer all the food stuffs to the dorm soon enough and both of them leave with the chocolate bowl in hand.

They are touching rather closely because none of them would give up the bowl to the other. Soon, they reach the portrait of the Fat Lady and much to his disappointment Sirius gives the bowl to him altogether. He sees all of them seated in a more or less circular form, except Peter; when he asks about him James informs him that he went somewhere just as they came back. Some of the other houses are present as well, including Mary’s latest boyfriend who resembles Sirius in many ways except he isn’t as beautiful.

He sits in the only seat, a loveseat, left near the fire and Sirius follows suit. “So is this a sober gathering or we getting drunk again?” he asks and he scopes a bit of the chocolatey pudding with two of his fingers and puts it in his mouth, making an obscene sound as he sucks on them before popping them out of his mouth, squeaky clean. Remus suddenly feels a bit too much hot,  _ must be the fire _ , he thinks; but he knows it’s not that, it’s never THAT!

He almost doesn’t hear when Marlene replies, “How in Merlin’s dirty ballsack did you even  _ think _ that there would be no drinking involved, that too on a fucking Saturday night? Just get your lazy arse up and fetch the alcohol while we decide which game to play?”

“As madame orders,” he gets up and walks towards the dorms and unconsciously my eyes just stick to his beautiful and perfect arse which sways ever so slightly as he starts climbing the stairs. The others argue over which game to play while Remus tries and fails, to not think about all the lovely things he would love to do to that perfect bum, if he ever had the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update would be on 8th Dec, so stayed tuned! I'm trying to be on schedule *hopefully it'll work* Also its Christmas Month!!!!! Yes, I'm oozing excitement, just ignore me here.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James has a talk with Sirius and Evans both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! So this is a day late, I'm sorry. Yesterday had been a blur tbh and in between all the chaos I forgot about posting, OopS. Also this isn't beta-ed so sorry in advance......

*POV James*

James is dreamingly staring at Lily when both of his bestfriends enter the common room. He shifts his gaze for a moment to smile at them, before resuming his gazing again, Lily is in deep conversation about something with Jane so she doesn’t notice him. He answers Remus’ question about Peter without breaking his gaze, it’s only when Lily looks directly at him, a blush creeping to both their faces, when he looks away. His gaze falls on his best friends who aren’t ‘friends’ anymore at least not unofficially and everyone knows that, well everyone except them.

He clears his throat when he notices Remus watching Sirius or in precision his arse. Remus blushes furiously when he meets James’ gaze and shakes his head slightly; whether it was to himself or James, he would never know. He just hopes that both his best friends get their heads out of their arses soon enough, else he has no idea what will happen; to be completely fair, he doesn’t even want to think what will happen when one of them goes on a date.

Knowing Sirius, he would be going on one next weekend with someone who is  _ not  _ Remus, just to ‘help’ himself get over this stupid crush of his. He is scared that it would anger Remus more than it’ll make him jealous and an angry Remus is not something one should ever,  _ ever encounter _ in their entire lifetime.

And that is exactly what happens next morning at breakfast. Riley, a sixth year Puff, comes upto them rather shyly and starts a conversation with Sirius. He just watches Remus, the way his anger slowly rises; the way his fork spears the sausage and his eyes which are almost flaring. He practically  _ glares  _ at Riley who would probably have died on spot, if they hadn’t been so hung on Sirius’s words and his smile. 

When they finally leave, Sirius turns towards them with a smile on his face. When James arcs an eyebrow towards him, he looks at him with a ‘what’ expression. He signals him to meet him afterwards which he agrees to, hesitantly.  _ Good,  _ he thinks,  _ he should be skeptical about what’s going to hit him. _

He glances at Remus before looking at Lily who is also watching Remus with much trepidation. He somehow gets her attention and signals her to control him while he sorts his idiot of a best friend.

Just as breakfast finishes, Remus all but rushes towards the door, Lily closely at heels along with Peter. Sirius’s frown follows them as he asks, “What happened to Moons?”

“You don’t know? How oblivious of you, Siri.”

“No really, is he alright?” he does look concerned and James has no idea what is going to happen now. He sighs before replying, “Yes, or he will be. Let’s go, I want to talk to you but not here.” He glances around and notices Reggie looking at them-- who averts his gaze instantaneously-- but he is not alone, many others including Riley are watching them.

He gets up and heads for the corridor which leads to the fourth tower of the castle. It's almost always empty making it one of their main points for meeting when even the dorms can’t be trusted. He knows Sirius isn’t far behind and at the moment he is too angry at his best friend to walk and  _ chit-chat _ with him. He tries to get his argument clear, and he swears to Merlin if Sirius starts on how ‘it’s just a crush’ and ‘Moony is straight’; James will throw himself off the tower right then. 

He looks down towards the ground, people are out enjoying this wonderful morning. One of the few days when it’s not overcast with clouds, only he is struck here trying to sort whatever this chaos is between his two best friends. He hears Sirius come up behind him and stand beside him, leaning against the railing. 

“So….” he starts, giving Sirius a sideway glance, “What was that? Care to explain to me?”

“What was what?!” James just arcs his eyebrow at him and slightly tilts his head. “I really have zero idea about why you’re angry at me.”

“Really, Siri?”

“Really Prongs.”

“So tell me this, what should one do when their best friend who confessed to having feelings for their other mutual best friend do, when said best friend just agrees on a  _ goddamn date,  _ on the fourth day in school? Tell me because right now I’m really confused and on the top of that angry on the behalf of Moony.”

“Prongs…. You know me, I can’t let my stupid crush on Moons escalate like it has been since I saw him on King’s Cross. Moreover I’m in negative when it comes to Moony, he fancies bints, you know that. And…. and just ….” he takes a deep breath and slowly exhales and slouches forward, “Prongs I think I’m falling in love with Moony. 

  
  


He altogether stops breathing at that, in a million years when he thought that  _ Sirius Black would fall in love, yes he knew that his best friend liked his other best friend but love!?! Now he just can’t let them go in vain, can he? Now he is going to help him get Moony, whatever it takes, he’ll help them. Everything be damned. But first he needs to get the thought of forgetting Moony as anything other than Siri’s friend, out of Sirius’s mind, for Circe’s sake! _

“Pads…. That is ……….” he takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, “You sure, mate?”

“I don’t know, I think I’m, but I can’t be, you see? I can’t love my best friend, not like THAT! And yes, before you ask, that is exactly why I said yes to Riley when they asked me to a date coming Saturday to Hogsmeade.”

“Right now Pads, I don’t know whether to kill you or me, if I’m being completely honest.”

“Well, that’s an easy question now. Of course you kill yourself, I’m too beautiful to die this young.” he grins at James and James despite himself smiles at him, shaking his head. 

“You’re an idiot, Sirius Orion. And I hope you understand that before it's too late.”

“Well I  _ am _ Sirius after all, so don’t bet on it. Don’t worry love, I’ll be fine. I know what I’m doing.”

“Well at least one of us is sure of that.”

……………….

They soon returned after that, Sirius telling him the other causes why Remus could never be his, repeating the cause Remus is ‘straight’ at least fifteen thousand times before giving up. The rest of the morning was quite boring in comparison, because by the time they came back from the tower Remus was normal as usual. He was sitting in a chair near the fireplace, reading a book while his tea floated nearby. He didn’t talk much, except when directly spoken to, which both Lily and he made sure was scarce.

Nightfall meant his favourite time of the day, going on rounds with Lily. It was the only alone time they usually got and James cherished it more than anything else. They talked about random stuff, from magical theories to their favourite pastime. Lily had been astonished to hear that it wasn’t quidditch. And to think that it was only their  _ fourth  _ patrol together, it sure felt like a lifetime. And here he was, walking alongside Lily in a deserted corridor.

“You got a bit quiet there, you alright?”

“Yeah, just thinking.”

“Care to share?” she asked, tilting her head slightly towards him.

“Well I was just wondering what to do about the bloody idiots I’ve got as best friends. Thank Merlin, Wormy isn’t so complicated, else I would’ve just flunged myself from the nearest tower, I tell you.” he shakes his head before looking at her.

“Tell me about it, Re was a sight when I found him in the dorms. I don’t think I ever saw him this angry before and I’ve encountered that side of his before,” she says, her eyes wide as if she is reliving the moment, “Do you think we should do something about it?”

“Not yet, let’s see if they can figure it out themselves. I doubt they can but give them a chance.”

“Fine, but if Re starts on how beautiful Sirius’s tattoo is one more time, I’ll strangle both of them myself. Seriously, I don’t get what it is about tattoos that people like so bloody much.”

“You don’t like tattoos much?” he asked, even he could hear the faint tinge of uncertainty in his voice, after all he had got one as well along with Sirius.

“I don’t know, maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Never really saw a tattoo that made me think ‘Wow I’m horny over that tattoo’ Re is a complete nutter in this case.”  _ At Least he still has a chance to change her conflicted mind on that. _

“Well, Circe knows he will explode from lust when or if he sees his other one.”

“What is it and where is it?”

“I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s on his back.”

She stared at him for a second longer and they moved on other topics from there. He was happy with his friendship with Lily, if that’s what they had or if that’s what he could ever have. He was just happy that he was in her life and she allowed him at least that much. For that he was really grateful to whichever God was listening.

They encountered other prefects on their way, all of them doing their rounds as well and thankfully no students. He didn’t actually want to take any points for being out after hours because he did so himself most times. He also hoped whatever was in for them, especially with everything that was going on in Britain, they got through it without any sort of harm.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Kudos and comments are great! Next chapter will be up on 15th December.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello humans, sorry this is a day late......I somehow forget to post each week on time OopS

*POV Sirius*

Next Friday morning or late Thursday night, whichever one might call it, Sirius was awakened by something he could not recall. It was around 4am, he noticed after casting a wandless Tempus. He was getting restless these days, the moon was in a week and Remus has been out of his nerves the whole week and he just wouldn’t let Sirius come near him. Usually it was Sirius who calmed him, he had a different type of aura around him, Remus always said. Maybe that aura was not needed anymore, when he had asked Remus about why he was ignoring Sirius, he had outright denied doing anything of that sort, but Sirius knew better than that. He had known Remus for seven years now, he could say with pride he is one of the handful of people who know him inside out. 

Sirius looked at his sleeping figure in the next bed, that is not how it is supposed to be! This close to the moon, he sleeps next to him, cuddled up in a huge pile of blankets; making Sirius extremely hot with his body heat, not that one would ever hear him complain. Sleep wasn’t going to visit again, so he thought going down to the kitchens for a cuppa and bring one for Remus as well, maybe that would help his case a little.

He adjusts his cover, then covers up Peter whose blanket was on the floor, then heads down. He finds Lily there with her eyes closed, sitting much like he was a week ago. She had tears flowing from her eyes, a crumpled paper clutched against her chest. He doesn’t hesitate for even a second, he just sits next to her and wraps an arm around her. She jerks up for a second, but as soon as she recognises him, she craves into his touch, hugging him tightly and crying her heart out. She knows that she need not be embarrassed around him, their relation was like that. He had sat with her twice after the first night, one had been him being upset while the other night had been her; although she had refused to tell him anything that night. He made her promise to tell her someday, he was going to extract that promise tonight. 

It was almost an hour before she stopped and distangles herself and looked at him with red eyes. She cleans her nose with her shirt sleeve, then takes the paper in her hand and tears it apart and throws the pieces all around the fireplace.

“Lily….” he says warily, trying to gauge her reaction. She just shakes head, but he waits for her to answer; stretching the silence between them.

Finally she answers, her voice hoarse from all the crying, “It’s just my sister.”

“Ah the sibling factor. Been there, done that. So tell me what did this lovely sister of yours do to make you cry like this?”

“She is getting married, next year on January 2nd and….and she explicitly told me in not so many words that I would be quite unwelcome and she doesn’t want her husband to know that I’m a freak. She also told, that should I come I should find myself a ‘normal’ person and not someone of my sort….and…..and” she turns her head away, looking into the fireplace.

“You know Evans, I thought you were smart enough to figure out what to do? But I’ll help you out, dysfunctional families are under my expertise as you know.” She gives him a small smile, after shaking her head.

“Come on, Evan! My humor is elite, don’t you agree?”

“Yes Sirius, never seen better humor. Go and flaunt that I, Lily Evans said that.”

“Ah I knew you’re still you and not the crying firstie I just with.” She hits his shoulder lightly at that and gives a short laugh. 

“Alright fine. So tell me Mr. Expert, what should I do now?”

“You attend the wedding of course, probably with the best gentleman in the whole castle.”

“Ah of course. But pray tell, where would I ever find such a man?” She tilts her head and tries to hide her smile but Sirius has been around enough Slytherins to see through most things.

“Why he is sitting right in front of you? I mean look at me, Evan! Where would you get a more beautiful man in the whole castle? Perhaps Moony, but I doubt he would agree going to a social function such as a wedding. And who would know that I’m as bent as a pirate’s hook, yeah?” 

“So be it, we have a date on January 2nd, where you would be posing as my….?”

“Why nothing better than your long term boyfriend about whom you didn’t confide to anyone.”

“Lets shake on it then.” And they both shake hands, before deciding to go the Kitchens for a cuppa or two, and if Sirius brought a cookie or two extra for Remus, no one was going to complain, where they?

………………………………………….

“Mr. Black, could you tell us what we will be doing today? Since you had been paying such undivided attention to us today.” McGonagall asked, bring him back to the present world. He had been thinking of Remus again, who was sitting next to James and not him. Could it actually be that Remus was sad or angry that he was going on a date with Riley? But how could that be? McGonagall cleared her throat again, looking sternly at him. 

“Well Minnie, you said that today we would be transforming our quills to any sort of animal first, although muggle but a bit more complex than a rodent. Then we would need to change its colour to something else, again of our own choice but not the primary ones. You also said that first we need to write down what we are going to be doing and if anyone achieves that before the end of class then they’ll be rewarded fifty points.” he said with a huge grin, thank Merlin he had learned to zone out whilst still listening quite early in his life, it had some advantages after all. 

McGonagall gave him an even look, she hadn’t expected that, how would she? He never ever was distracted in class, so she never saw his multitasking skills before. If she was astonished she hid it quite well, because even Sirius was not able to tell and boy could he read people!

The class went on without any other event, he had gotten fifty points for his House, along with MangWorth from Ravenclaw. Remus was still a bit aloof, lesser than he had been yesterday but it still stung. He had thanked him for the tea and cookies but that was all. So now,here he was, about to confront Remus for what he didn’t know but he was really craving for a big row.

“Moony, can we talk?” he asked as he entered the common room, Remus was sitting on his usual chair reading yet another book. Dorcas and Marlene were snogging each other furiously in the farthest corner of the room, except them they were pretty alone in the whole room. Both of them had a free period, unlike the rest of the school; pretty coincidental of they ask him. Normally Remus read his book whilst Sirius either framed plans or painted his nails, but look what happened here now.

“Why not? Tell me what you’ve got.”

“You’re ignoring me.” Being straightforward was the best way around Remus, else he could turn your words in a different manner and no one would like to be on the receiving end of that trick.  
“I certainly am not.”

“We both know it, Moons. So why even try denying it?”

He kept quiet for a whole minute, probably analysing the best way out of the situation, finding none, he atlast sighed loudly, “Yes I’ve been ignoring you.”

“Why?”

“I….I don’t know.” Sirius stares at him for a long moment before concluding that Moony is in fact telling him the truth, he has no idea.

“Could it be because I said yes to Riley?”

“What? Why would you even think that?” His expression is that of horror and at that Sirius instantly regretted asking that.

“No I just…….nothing,” he pauses for another moment before asking, “Look Re, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t take you being this distant any longer. I don’t have a clue as to why you’re doing this but I don’t give a rat’s tit anymore so whatever I did, please forgive me, Moons. Please.” He realises a little late that he has tears in his eyes and they are also flowing down his face. He doesn’t do anything to wipe them, he just stares at Remus who looks on the verge of crying himself. 

Remus takes a deep breath and gets up from his chair, book falling on the floor. To Sirius’s surprise, he doesn’t even seem to notice it, he just comes up and stands before Sirius. He raises both his hands and wipes off the tears which slip past his cheeks. He just stares into hazel brown eyes, which are dark with unsaid emotion; Remus’s eyes are beautiful, they always have been. He could stare for hours at his eyes, if given the chance so he cherished the moment he was allowed. His gaze unconsciously went down towards his lips, they looked so kissable at the moment, if only he could lean forward and press his own lips forward. Remus’s mouth opened ever so slightly and his tongue oh-so-slowly swept across his lower lip and a wave of lust shot down his spine, reaching his groin directly. He reluctantly looked away, just as Remus released him from his grasp. He moved forward and hugged him, which Remus returned without hesitation. 

“Forgive me, Moony, for whatever I did. Please, love, I’m hurting here.” he mumbled against his chest. Remus nods his head and says, “I already did, Pads.”

They stay like for who knows how long, at one point he think he hears a faint ‘I love you’, although he tells himself that he must have heard wrong but a small voice, just a teeny tiny one tells him that maybe, maybe he heard right; he just ignores it for most of the part. He knows that they need to move apart from each other because mates don’t just hug each other for this long, the only one he had hugged this long had been James, it had been the night he ran away from that bloody hell of a house; he had cried all night then and never again, not really, not until now. He didn’t know what was in for him, he just hoped that he would be able to get through all of it without much harm done on the way. He was deeply in love with Remus John Lupin, they were going into war, they were going to graduate this year, they had everything on stake and they couldn’t even bear to lose this war which was coming their way. He just hope that when they win, it would be worth every fucking thing they would lose on the way because he wasn’t a fool to believe that all will be okay in the end, that was just utter bollocks and everyone knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all liked it!!!! Kudos and comments make my day! Also thank you to everyone who actually read and kudo-ed this!!!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Peter talk to our Remus...
> 
> I'm real bad at summaries, you people must know that by now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya!!! Yeah its not been a week but oh well, here we go.

*POV James*

James wakes up late Saturday morning, only to find Sirius doing his hair in some intricate design, dressed up in casual clothes. He looks incredible as usual, but he has a smile on his face which had been missing since last Sunday. Remus and him must have made up then, he did see them being normal last evening, but he doesn’t understand why Sirius is still going on his date. Siriusly who knows what is going on with these idiots nowadays. He rubs his eyes and greets his best mate and goes down to the common room, dressed in his pajamas with his dishevelled hair. He finds Lily there, talking with Marlene, Dorcas, Remus and others. She is in her pajamas and well, but she looks angelic this morning with her messed up hair and baby pink lips. All he can do is not gawk at them directly, it is a hard task but he thinks he manages fine, until he sees Remus trying to hide his smile as he looks between him and Lily,  _ well it’s not his fault that the love of his life is so beautiful and looks so ethereal in the morning. _

He greets everyone before seating himself between Frank and Marlene, both of whom are debating about what would be a good graduation gift for someone. He provides them some points but stares at Lily, indirectly, for most of the time. That is until Sirius comes down, looking hot af, that even he who is deeply in love with Lily can see the charm that makes people swoon over him. He comes and stands directly in front of Remus, who seems to have frozen in shock. Sirius bends down so he is at his eye-level and whispers something into his ear which James cannot make out for the life of him, Sirius can be quiet when he actually wants to be, whatever one might think or say. Remus nods slightly and gives Sirius a small smile which he returns then he bids them all farewell and is gone.

James just observes Remus, he goes quiet immediately, although he didn’t show it outwardly, James had known Remus enough to understand his feelings and emotions quite well enough. So he does what he knows will put Remus back in a good mood.

“Moons, we’ve been in school for more than two weeks now, yet we didn’t prank anyone yet. Do you have anything in mind?”

“Potter, did you somehow forget that you are  _ Head Boy  _ now?” It was Lily who retorted back.

“Well Evans, that does not make me ineligible for making pranks now, does it? After all, Mr. Prefect here has been the mastermind for most of our previous ones.” he replied back with a smirk on his face.

“What?!” All of them said in unison, except Lily who looks smug for some reason, while Remus glared at James for ruining his perfect Prefect image.

“Well it’s true, ask him yourself.” He shrugs and all of them look expectantly at Remus, who has a faint flush on his cheek as he continues to glare at him.

He stares at James for another moment or two before saying, “Did you people really think that they came up with those ideas? Halloween 1975 was like the best prank in the history of Hogwarts and I couldn’t just leave it to these three idiots, could I? I had to do  _ something. _ ”

That seems to have broken the dam as all of them start asking questions together, about which pranks were his and what not. Remus answers all of them, one by one, more acknowledging than denying.  _ Plan successful, _ he thinks mentally and glances at Lily almost unconsciously who is smiling at him, she mouths him a ‘great idea’ and beams at him. It seems that she understood what he was trying to do here,  _ well at least she agrees on  _ something  _ with him. _

…….

After breakfast, they all separate to do their respective things while James talks to Peter about asking Remus about Sirius. James finds Peter after finishing his Potions homework, who is sitting in a corner in the library studying Herbology.

“He was reading a book when I left, don’t you think it’s a really bad time to interrupt him? I mean he gets pretty annoyed when one of us does that.” Peter exclaims when James asks him about Remus.

“One of us except Sirius and I think talking about and to Sirius are mostly equal so we would be safe else Merlin can only help us.”

They find him by the fireplace, in his armchair. A blanket covering his lap while a tea cup hovers near his right hand, ready to be drunk and knowing Remus it was either ice cold or under a stasis or heating spell. That bloke never drinks his tea like a normal person.he doesn’t even look up from his book when they enter the room, too concentrated to even care. He doesn’t even hear them when they call his name, twice.

“Babes, that is Remus you both are calling. Remus who is almost at the end of his book, do you think he gives even an half-arsed fuck that you both just called him? He probably didn’t even hear you guys. I don’t really blame him, today is his book day with Lils, he needs to finish the book before their meeting.” Dorcas contributed. 

“We know that, I told Prongs the same before coming but Prongs was quite confident.” Peter agreed.

“Well, we’ll see about that just now won’t we?” James smirked at both of them before calling out, “Pads, you’re back early!”

Remus whipped up his head in lightning fast speed, when he saw no one at the door, he gave James an even look, “What the hell, Potter?”

“See? I told you, I know what I’m doing.” he said as he signalled towards Remus who was glaring at him, “Now that we at last have your attention, we have some questions for ya.”

“And what makes you think that I’ll actually answer or even listen to them, Prongs?”

“Well, they are about Siri so I know for a fact that you would be quite enthusiastic to listen to them and for the answering part, well me and Wormtail will handle that.” He smiled at Remus who had stilled when James had uttered Sirius’s name. He turned his head to see both Dorcas and Peter trying really hard to conceal their smiles.

Remus slowly looked back at his book, but James could clearly tell that it was an act. After all, he had known that bloke for almost six years now, he could tell when he was pretending or not. 

After almost a minute he said, “What about Pads?” James flashed a smile at Dorcas and Peter as he went to sit down in front of Remus. “Aren’t you interested?” he mumbled as Peter came to join him.

“Okay I’m opting for the blunt way, what is Sirius to you?” he was looking directly into Remus’s eyes who took a moment before answering, “Why he is my best mate, just like you and Wormtail.”

“Moony, don’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything but I would be a little uncomfortable if you looked at me like you look at Sirius every time he comes out of shower.” Peter confessed.

“I agree, mate. So Moons, we want the truth not whatever bullshit you are thinking of using as an excuse.” he said, looking back at Remus.

“I don’t know what you guys want me to tell you. I’m telling you the truth. Pads is just my best mate.”

“C’mon Moons, all of us know that isn’t true. Even Stevie first year can tell that you both love each other madly and not as mates.”

Remus sighs loudly and says, “You don’t know what you are talking about, Prongs. Siri definitely doesn’t love me, he isn’t even remotely interested in me, so why bother whether I’m in love with him or not. And Dorcas, don’t pretend that you’re doing your work, I know you are listening.” She blushed at that comment and gave up all pretense and came up to sit on the couch next to James. 

“So you’re in love with him?”

“I tell you so much and you focus on that part, dammit. Yes I am deeply and irrevocably in love with Sirius Orion Black, even though he won’t ever feel the same and I get that.”

“Oh hi Sirius! You are back early.” Dorcas chimes and all three of them look towards the empty door. They laugh while Remus proceeds to glare at them all, especially Dorcas.

“I can’t believe I fell for that. You people should be burned in hell.” Remus mutters as he folds his hands across his chest.

“Well you did and now we know how you feel. You should confess.”

“Are you nuts? He just went on a date with another person and you expect me to believe your words and tell him? Bloody Hell, Prongs, never.”

“Tell me this, Rem. Wasn’t he upset that you weren’t talking to him proper? I saw his eyes yesterday, they were red. I don’t think I have ever seen Sirius Black cry in my entire life and I have known him through many things, why did you think that he actually cried? It can’t be just because you’re his ‘best mate’, can it?” Peter argued, although James had seen him cry once in his life but that occasion had been extremely crucial and he rarely talked about it.

“I…. I don’t know.”

“Exactly, so save that bollocking for someplace else.”

“Fine, I’ll tell him sometime and no pestering me about what time. I’ll tell you when I tell you.”

“Since that is all done, let’s plan out the first prank of the year.” he asks.

“That is something I can do, I have been thinking about it and came to the conclusion that we should level them up on the magic since we have learnt quite many things since the last one.” Remus suggests as looks around at the three of them, “Dorcas, are you joining us or planning to tell on us?”

“Definitely joining, I mean it is last year so might as well break some rules, not that I really abide by them.”

“Fantastic, good choice.” He high-fives Dorcas and tells her about some of the ground rules they usually follow while pranking others.

“Now that Crass knows, let’s proceed. I agree with Moony that the magic level should be high, what if we start with transfiguration and Puffs? We could either dye all their hair yellow or make their quills come to life, unless you people have better ideas.” he theorized.

“Well, if we go with the hair thing then make it something worse, knowing Puffs they would absolutely love us for making it yellow. What about violet or blue? Quills coming to life will be a nuisance to us as well because we share most classes with them.” Dorcas retorted, she was met by three expressions of awe as they realized that she really was into the pranks and had pretty smart logic.

“Good of you to point out,  _ Crass _ since some of us have clearly forgotten to attach their brains this morning.” Remus remarked and all of them bickered and tried to devise the perfect first prank, not too easy but neither something which would give the Puffs a really hard time. All through lunch, the discussions went on, only to be stopped when Lily reminded Remus of their meeting and Remus rushed off to finish his book. 

After that, all of them separated, he went to the library to look at some new charms for upcoming pranks, marking the ones that would be hilarious but at the same time, difficult to do. He didn’t want the people to think that the marauders weren’t good enough wizards. His thoughts suddenly took a complete turn as he found himself thinking about Lily again. They had gotten quite friendly this term, thanks to being Head Boy and Head Girl, he was quite afraid to ask her out for the first time since the first year. He had become quite fond of their friendship after all and he just didn’t want to throw that away. He really needed to move on, settle on the friendship perhaps, but maybe he could ask her one more time; just before the end of term so he wouldn’t ruin anything because even he was sure that he won’t have contact with Lily Evans after Hogwarts. 

….

A little distance away, someone watched James’s saddened face, they wanted to come over and ask him what was wrong, but they were sure that wasn’t his place and they were sure to get hexed for even going near him after all they had done through the years. For now, all they could do was watch from afar, and help him in some way they actually could,  _ someday _ . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those who read this and kudo-ed it!!! They make my day!!!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My brain isn't functioning so I have like zero idea. I suck at writing summaries anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, beautiful people! Hope you are having a lovely day! I'm tired af but the day was great so tehe!!!

  


*POV Remus*

  


“So…..” Lily starts saying, looking expectantly at him.

  


“So what?” he asks her.

  


“Nothing you have to tell me, Rem? Nothing about how you’re deeply and irrevocably in love with your best mate?” She puts her hand on the table and balances her face over it. 

  


“Now who told you that? Because I’m planning on murdering them.”

  


“Oh, I don’t need someone to tell me that. I’ve known you long enough to know that. But I might have heard you telling something to Potter and others.” she replied.

  


He didn’t know whether to bang his head on the table and curse himself or should he just disappear into thin air or something else. They had been discussing about their weekly read and he had hoped Lily wouldn’t bring up Sirius now. They had an understanding, sort of. After breaking apart from the embrace last night, Sirius had asked him if he didn’t want him to go with Riley, he had rather encouraged him to go with them even though it had shattered his heart. He almost asked him to stay back when he had seen him this morning, looking absolutely edible. He had asked Remus again, confirming that it would not affect anything between them, when he had reassured him he had flashed him a smile and had gone on his merry way. Now that it was almost evening, he was terribly missing Sirius and somewhat regretting his decision. But he knew what he did was right, it would have been humiliating for Riley otherwise, being stood up by Sirius Black. He didn’t want anyone to ever go through that because he couldn’t keep his emotions under control.

  


He just hoped that Sirius would be back soon and he really really hoped that he wouldn’t start babbling about his date like he normally did. He doesn’t think that after so many confrontations about being in love with him today, he would be able to handle that. This close to the moon, his magic was wild and quite hard to get under control. 

  


“Remus? Are you even listening or you went away to day dream again?” Lily asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

  


“No no I’m listening.”

  


“Yeah? Then tell me what did I just say?” she smirked at him as he fumbled for an answer. She shook her head and told him again about her sister’s wedding and how Sirius is going to be her date. She expressed her concerns about how it was a bad idea because Sirius didn’t even seem posh.

  


“Lils trust me when I say this. I’ve never seen a more posh bloke in my life. Yeah, I know that he doesn’t dress like that but that is purely out of rebellion and his liking for leather jackets and ripped jeans. He absolutely  _ loves  _ wearing Muggle clothes. But I’ve seen him dance like no other and let’s not even start on his music skills. The way he dances across the floor, hips slightly swaying, legs in perfect synchronization with the music. The way he would lead you around the room, looking at you like you are everything that he ever wanted in his entire life. The way he would hold you and how he would bow and ask for your hand before starting the dance. How he would kiss your hand in a feather-light kiss and then….” he sighs loudly and he remembers how Sirius had tried to teach him ballroom dancing this summer and the summer before that. He had learnt next to nothing that first summer, too distracted to even pay attention. Sirius hadn’t given up, he took it upon himself to teach Remus and thanks to him, he could actually dance decent now. 

  


“Ah yes, I get it, Re. You are madly in love with him but I hardly think that’s what I asked about. He is a great dancer, yes and you are in love with his dancing skills. I asked if you know…….you know how Petunia is….” Her amused expression transformed to a sombre one at her elder sister’s mention.

“Don’t worry Lils. When it comes to impressing someone with skills, Sirius Black is your go-to man.” he assured her once again. 

  


They moved to less mind draining topics from there, she started telling him about how a new potion was in making which would be helpful to werewolves in many ways. She had been researching about dark arts and stuff to protect herself in the war better, she shared some of her ideas and spells with him as well. Lily was really worried about how she’ll become a healer if the discrimination towards Muggleborns grew or if Voldemort actually came to power. He shared some of his concerns as well and soon it was time to head back for the dorms, dinner was in an hour or so and he wanted to have a cuppa. Lily reluctantly agrees to accompany him to the Kitchens and he is quite surprised to find out that she knows how to get there.

  


“I love our weekly discussion, Lils! It’s exhilarating to talk about the most recent book you read, but we can’t do this next week, you know.” he told her as they walked back towards the stairs.

  


“I know Rem, your health comes first, we can do one thing, what if I read to you some of my favourite phrases from some of my books and tell you about them on Sunday? So you won’t feel as if you are missing out much, yeah?” she suggested with a smile. This is why he truly loved Lily, she always had a way to make him look forward to something after the moon. She had figured it out in fifth year or so and since then, she had been nothing but supporting towards him. He still had a difficult time accepting the fact that all these people still loved him, even after knowing full well about his little fury problem. 

He reached out to squeeze her hand gently as they walked towards the staircase leading towards the Gryffindor Tower. Just then, he heard Sirius’s voice coming from the different direction, he looked in the direction to find him laughing along with Riley. 

  


His anger flared up, it was one thing to tell Sorius to have fun with them and a completely different thing to actually  _ see _ them laughing and having ‘fun’ together. Before he could get out of there without him noticing, Sirius called to him. He looked at him and forced himself to give them  _ both _ a smile. 

  


“Now isn’t this the perfect thing on a perfect day.” he muttered under his breath and heard Lily chuckle slightly beside him. 

  


“Hey Evans! Hey Lupin!” Riley said as they both of them reached. The four of them exchanged pleasantries as much as he could handle without bursting something or the other around them. 

  


“So how was the date? Had fun, Sirius?” Lily asked, Remus proceeded to glare at her; all the while smiling pleasantly. 

  


“Oh it was absolutely perfect, we had so much fun! We even went Honeydukes and the chocolatey treats were just lovely-” Riley started gushing all about what all they did, while Sirius looked at them with a mixed expression of surprise and amused-ness. 

  


“I would have loved to talk more but I really need to go, loads of homework left to finish, you see. See y’all!” he smiled at the three of them but before any of them could reply, he was climbing up the stairs. 

  


He heard Lily’s faint laughter just as he started climbing the third flight of stairs. It made him angrier and he stormed in the other direction towards the Gryffindor Tower, he was not at all interested in talking to anyone at the moment, if someone tried then it would be their life in danger.

  


As a matter of fact, none of his fellow Gryffindors even tried to speak to him as he went up to the dorm rooms. He saw James restraining Peter who had started to speak something. Hopefully they would be playing another game tonight since it was the weekend. He would be peacefully-ha-asleep when they find their way back to the dorm. He went to sit in front of the large window and stared out into the night.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to each and everyone of you who actually read this fic and gave their kudos!!! I really appreciate them <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another Gryffindor weekend party, of sorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! Hope you had a great start into the New Year <3

*POV Lily*

Just as Remus stormed away, Riley said to her surprise, “Ah he is gone now. So now I can start with truth, right Black?”

_ Truth? Black? What truth and didn’t they call him Sirius a moment ago?  _ Lily thought.

“Why now? Since you did save my sorry arse in front of Moony.” Sirius shrugs and gives Lily a small smile.

“Well, Black here is in love with Lupin and I got that pretty early on our  _ date _ . He was talking about all his friends while we were on our way towards Hogsmeade when I caught on. It did seem that way from the beginning of the term but since neither of them acted on it, I thought I should take a chance. Well, at least I had a whole lot of fun today, if nothing else.”

“Ah…. so that’s what happened. It does make sense in a way. Why didn’t you just come back, Riley?” she asked them, curious as to what made them spend a whole day with a lost case.

“Well, Black suggested to just spend the day together, since he had promised that and well it would certainly make his ‘Moony’ jealous, by the looks of it I’m right.” they smirked at the direction in which Remus had left them. Lily thought it was awfully kind of Riley to help her friends the way they did. Most people wouldn’t even think of doing so, but here they were.

After talking for some more time, Riley left them as they proceeded towards their dorm while Lily suggested Sirius to accompany her on a walk around the castle before they proceeded directly for dinner. Sirius was only happy to join her, not wanting to face Remus just then.

They walked in a relative silence, she let him sort out his thoughts before speaking and it turned out to be the correct thing to do after all. 

“Do you really think Remus might like me?” he asked suddenly. Lily mentally snorted, as if Remus would ever not.

“Yes, I do.”

“Even if I believe you, I don’t think I actually want to confess and break whatever we have now. Why can’t we just drop it?”

“I didn’t start talking about it, but if you say so. I won’t say anything until and unless I absolutely need to.”

“Thank you, Evans. Why don’t we talk about you and Prongs instead, huh?” he asked, making his eyebrows wiggle in a suggestive way.

“What about us?” she asked hurriedly, she rather liked the ‘us’ more than she would ever agree.

“Oh you know, the usual. What do you think of him?”

“Why I think he is an incredible person who has put past prejudices against Slytherins and that he makes quite a brilliant Head Boy, with his charisma and intelligence. Not only that--you sneaky snitch, I know what you’re doing” she pointed a finger at him.

“And what is it that I’m doing, Evans?” he smiled at her coyly, trying to feign innocence.

“Let’s go back, I’m not falling for this trick.”

“Oh absolutely! I think you’re falling for something entirely else, is it a some _ one _ ?”

She immediately regretted saying that but nonetheless they both went back towards their Tower in a comfortable silence.

……….

“So what happened with Remus there?” James asked-- _ James? When did he becoming fucking James from Potter?!?! _

“Oh you know, the normal jealousy stuff of those two. Riley helped, they exaggerated--and that’s an understatement--about the date with Sirius today and Re just stormed out of there with some sloppy excuse” she told him, shaking a head at her best friend’s antics.

“Ah, that would explain it.” He said while nodding his head.

“It?”

“The murderous expression he sported when he entered. Took quite a lot of strength to restrain Wormy here. He had been quite concerned ever since, better now Wormtail?”

“Oh yeah, loads. I mean it does explain a lot and now that Pads is up there with Moony; I don’t think I would be needed.” He nods his head towards the staircase where Sirius just disappeared.

“People!! Let’s play something!!” Dorcas yells standing in the center of the room, everyone turning their heads to look at her as she continues, “What about Never Have I Ever? Followed by Truth or Dare or something else!!!! Come on, fuckers roundup we are doing this!!!"

Met with collective cheers and whoo hoos, they all round up in a circular ring, while Marlene runs upstairs to bring the booze. Today they were having tequila shots, thanks to their favourite power couple Marlene and Dorcas.

“Okay, Marls you start.” Dorcas says, as they both sit down after pouring out the shots.

“Do you people realize that taking a shot if we have done a thing could get us pissed before even two rounds are done?” Peter asked but he received boos from all sides and very few nods of agreement.

“Let’s start the, yeah? Never have I ever kissed a bloke.” Marlene said, grinning like a canary at all of them.  _ She definitely planned on getting each and every one of them drunk. _

Groans erupted all around, everyone, no doubt understanding what she was upto. Looking around she saw most of them down their shots and since the game was on truth, she downed hers as well. She then saw James downing his as well and THAT made all heads turn to him with an astonished expression all around.

“Something we wanna know about, James?” Frank asked, he cursed inwardly and said, “Well, it was an accident. Didn’t mean to kiss him on the lips.”

“So who was this bloke?” she asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

“Where would be the fun if I told y’all. Better to let you all burn in suspense.” He smirks at her and they continued the game.

Soon it was James’ turn who had downed shots at almost all turns, “Okay, so going with the easiest one here. Never have I ever kissed a girl in my life.”

“What?!” All of them, more or less shouted in unison.

“Well, I don’t want to kiss just anyone, and I don’t consider S-that bloke my first so I’m pretty much the only person here with zero kisses and I don’t regret it.”

“That is inspirational, James. Hope you get your first one soon.” Alice said.

She finds it a bit strange that in all his life, James, the most popular boy in school and no kissing history. Did that mean that he actually meant that he loved her? Just then, Charles shook her shoulder and she realized it was her turn.

“Lils, where did ya go?”

“Just got lost but anyways,” she shook her head and said, “Never have I ever have had sex.”

“Well, you are missing a lot then.” Dorcas said as she downed her shot, giving a quick kiss to her girlfriend.

After the completion of the first round, one of them thought it would be a great idea to play truth and dare but  _ dirty  _ truth and dare. And so it began, first with Dorcas who was dared to kiss Lily. She laughed and pressed a light kiss to her mouth.

“Dorc, you are no fun!” Phil whined while the others laughed.

Next it's Marlene’s turn, who takes truth, “If not Dorc then who would it be?”

“Do you people just love burning relationships this way?” she says but answers anyways, “If we are going by looks then Narcissa Black for sure. I mean, have you seen that babe?!” Most boys nod their agreement while Dorcas throws daggers through her eyes at Marlene.

It’s Charles’ turn and he chooses dare and is made to sit shirtless for the rest of the game. He is a sight, too bad he isn’t into girls, she thinks wistfully and most certainly doesn’t imagine James shirtless, sitting in the exact same position across her.  _ She absolutely doesn’t. _

The game continues, until it’s James' turn….

“Potter, I dare you to kiss Lils.” Alice declares and then adds, “It’s not like she doesn’t love you already.” She rolls her eyes dramatically while her friends snicker beside her.

“Er….” James says, then turns towards her and her eyes go wide.  _ She is going to be kissed by James Potter. Wait, why does that make her feel giddy?! _

Despite herself, she closes her eyes, waiting for his lips to met hers but they never do. Instead she feels James take her hand instead and her eyes flutter open. He slowly and deliberately takes her hand and kisses it sweetly like a perfect gentleman and stands up.

“That wasn’t just!!” 

“Cheating”

“Hey! That wasn’t even a peck!” 

Shoutings erupt all around while James just shrugs. “If I ever kiss Lily, it would be because she wants it and the moment is perfect. Not when all or most of us are pissed out of our minds. Soz, people.” She feels herself melt all over again, even though she tries not to; she feels herself fall, just a bit; but falls nonetheless.

He excuses himself and he and Pettigrew proceed towards the dorm rooms while the game continues. Lily’s mind is transfixed on how James, even though he had the chance and her permission, didn’t even try to kiss her. Her hand feels warm where he had kissed it and she cradles it preciously without even thinking about it.

…….

“You have started to like him, innit?” Alice asks as she enters their room after washing up.

“What? Of course not!” she exclaims as starts to comb her hair into a bun.

“Well, sweetheart, A didn’t even mention a name but a name still flashed in your mind, did it not?” Marlene says as she leans into Dorcas who is sitting beside her, their joined hands in her lap.

“I--well….” she stammers as she sits down on her bed, hair in a messy bun.

“Hush babes, let the girl think. She’ll come to the conclusion soon enough. For now, let’s sleep. I’m knackered and anyone who wakes me before noon tomorrow would be hexed into oblivion.” Dorcas says, pulling Marlene beside her as she lies down. “Not even me, babe?” she hears Dorcas mutter while Alice shakes her head at the two of them.

“Well, Lils, I’m here to listen if you want to organize your thoughts out loud.”

“Maybe I’ll, A. But for now, let’s sleep.” she says as she falls backward on her bed. Thoughts of a certain dark skinned boy with messy hair and square glasses filter through her mind, uninvited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the people who have given kudos to this fic, you just make my day!!!! Thank you for reading, because I didn't think that someone would actually do that :/


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius shows his other tattoos....

*POV Sirius*

He finds Moony sitting at the window sill, looking wistfully out of the window. He stands beside him, although Moony doesn’t acknowledge his presence; Sirius knows that he knows.

“Are you upset?” He finally says, breaking the silence. He looks at Remus but he refuses to look back at him.

“Why would I be?” he retorts back, still looking out of the window.

“Well…. I….nothing. My mistake.”

“Must be so, Si.”

He stands there in silence, not knowing what to say. So he has no idea how, when he abruptly blurts out, “Did I tell you that I’ve gotten  _ three _ tattoos?”

THAT makes Remus look up at him, he says, “Nope, you didn’t.”

“I got magical footprints all over my back of us four.” he says, somewhat excited to talk about them to someone who isn’t James.

“That’s brill! What is the other one?” Remus asks, his eyes excited and interested.

“Why don’t you take a look yourself?” he says as he shrugs off his t-shirt. He hears Remus gasp as the shirt drops to the floor, but when he turns around it isn’t a amazed face that greets him; it's a horrified one. Then he suddenly remembers.  _ The scars. _ He had completely forgotten about them, it was a habit now to not be shirtless in front of people so he hardly thought about them, but now Remus had seen them. He must be disgusted, any chance he even had before was now most definitely out of the bloody window.

“Siri….who did that to you?” he asked, his voice a bare whisper. A second later realisation flooded through his face as he answered his own question, “It was that blasted mother of yours, isn’t it?”

Sirius could do nothing but give a short nod. He saw the expression on Remus;s face change, it went straight from horrified to angry,  _ so so angry.  _ He didn’t think he had ever seen Remus be this recently and he realised that it wasn’t at him. No, Remus wasn’t disgusted, he was  _ concerned. _

“Can ….can I touch them?” Remus asks in a small voice, afraid Sirius would just push him away but he doesn’t. He just nods again and tries not to flinch as Remus tentatively brushes his hand across the one across his chest. That was the last one he got, before he ran away. It was that one which made his decision of leaving his family then and there, crystal clear.

He touches each and everyone of them with such tenderness that Sirius’s heart fills up with love. He tries not to flinch, not to think of all the horrible memories it brings up. He rather focus on Remus’ hands which wander all over his abdomen, leaving behind a sigh of warmth in their wake. He closes his eyes and focuses on the sensation, tries to forget everything else. He gasps when he feels Remus lightly kiss one of them. He feels him stop, waiting for Sirius to react but he doesn’t, he just lets himself be kissed. So Remus just places soft, featherlight kisses all over his chest and back, making the skin tingle slightly and giving him butterflies.

When he again opens his eyes, he finds himself staring directly into hazel eyes with just a fleck of gold in them. He notices moisture in them and realises Remus is  _ crying _ . 

“Oh love, don’t cry. They don’t matter. They are past, they don’t even hurt anymore. All of them healed up. Please, don’t cry. I can’t see you cry over something like  _ this.  _ Please, honey don’t.” He cups his face in his eyes and gently wipes the tears which have fallen away. 

It doesn’t help, more tears flow out as he says, “How….how can anyone do that? To their own fucking child?! You don’t deserve those. No one does,” he just cries softly in his hands, unable to stop.

“Re, it’s alright. I’m fine now and I’m far away from them anyway. Now look at me.” he slight;y tugs his face, and after a moment looks at him with red eyes. He tries to give him a small smile but it doesn’t really come out as one.

And just like that, he can feel it. It is the moment. He looks into Remus’s eyes only to find him looking at his lips and he feels his breath leave his body. Remus Lupin looking at his lips should not be this hot. It should be downright illegal, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t and Sirius was looking at Remus’s lips. They were wet and plum and looked so so kissable that he could barely stop himself. Barely.

They both looked back up at each other at the exact moment. The gap between them full of static, Sirius just felt that it was the moment he would kiss Remus Lupin and make him his. Yes he was sure. He felt Remus lean forward ever so slightly, and did the same himself. One a small centimetre left between their lips; all he had to do was just  _ lean _ a bit forward and he could taste the lips he had been wanting to for ages now. They stood still for what seemed like an eternity, both unsure if they should or not. If they should cross this border of friendship and take the chance. 

Suddenly overcome with courage, Sirius took the step-inching his lips forward to taste Remus’--just then James with Peter came in and they broke apart. Both of them flustered beyond anything, looking anywhere but at each other. He had been a hairbreath away from kissing Remus and fucking hell he fucking missed that moment! Had he been a bit more courageous, this wouldn’t be the case. _ So much for being a Gryffindor, Sirius Black! _

“Did we interrupt something, boys?” James asked, smirking and peter added, “I think we interrupted something  _ really  _ important, Prongs.” He was smirking as well, as they traded looks.

“Should we go away then? Padfoot? Moony?”

“No need for that, you didn’t interrupt  _ anything _ .” He quickly picked up his shirt and started buttoning it from the top. He hoped that Peter was too busy teasing to notice the scars as for James, he of course knew about them. Hell, he had even healed some of them himself.

They both teased them some more about him being shirtless and Remus was blushing furiously throughout. Although James gave him a look, silently asking the question he couldn’t out loud. Sirius replied with his eyes and a slight nod of his head. Seeing how sloshed they were, the two of them went to bed pretty quickly with Sirius and Remus following suit.

….

He couldn’t sleep, nope. Not after that almost kiss which had left himself breathless, plus the onslaught of all the worst memories from the past six years weren’t helping as well. The bed felt too big and too cold for him and made him unsafe and vulnerable. He had been trying to sleep for the past two hours but sleep seemed to have gone on some vacation. He opened the curtain to his side and looked at the moon outside, it was almost full now, only a week left. He looked around the room then, he could hear Peter’s quiet breaths and James’ loud snores, although Remus’s bed was relatively quiet.

Suddenly an idea came to him and before he could even think, he was slipping into bed next to Remus. 

“Is it okay if I sleep with you? Can’t sleep on my own.” he asked quietly. Remus wasn’t quite asleep yet; he was in between the state of consciousness and sleep.

“Huh? Yes, yes of course you can. C’mere.” He scooted to the left to make more space for him. Once he was properly in bed and under the blanket, Remus put his arms around his waist and snuggled up close to him. Sirius felt right at home as he put his arms around Remus’s neck and soon sleep envelled them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the chapter!! Also thank you so much for all the kudos, they make my day!!!!!!! <3


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some jily moments and ending with our Marauders spending some time together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hiii! It's just been a week but it was kinda the longest week in ever, I've my exams ongoing so it's all sort of a blur. Anyways enjoy the chapter and I would love to hear your thoughts about it

*POV James*

“That was a great thing you did there, mate.” Peter exclaims as they climb the stairs towards their dorm. 

He vehemently hopes that he doesn’t get between the storm that his best mates are creating when he reaches the dorm. He was expecting them to be shouting or maybe a Sirius trying to explain everything to Remus. He _certainly_ wasn’t expecting a half naked Sirius and a fully clothed Remus who were almost going to kiss. They break apart immediately, looking anywhere but at themselves. _Tbh, it is fun to watch but dammit, it could have their ‘it’ moment. Damn you James Fleamont Potter and your unbelievably worse timings._

Then it hit him, _Sirius was not wearing his shirt. The scars!_ He looks at Sirius, asking him silently if Remus knows and if he is okay. When he nods his head and shakes it towards Peter, he knows what to do. He teases Sirius and turns around as if it was a crime to see him shirtless, making Peter do the same, until Sirius tells them that he is dressed and they can stop being such dramatic arses now. 

When they turn around, Remus is blushing furiously; his cheeks, ears and even his throat is as red as a tomato. They tease them both before going to sleep. He is tired and the alcohol certainly isn’t helping. All he could think of is the moment when Lily had blushed when he was dared to kiss her and how she had closed her eyes as well. She had looked so beautiful then that it was almost painful, he had wanted nothing more than to press his lips against hers and yet he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it because it wasn’t something they had both wanted, no the situation rose and they both sorta agreed. He doesn’t want that, not with Lily, not with the girl he had loved since he saw her; the love that keeps getting deeper every time she does something great again and he falls again.

They say people should rise in love and not fall in love, he had been falling for many years but now he feels himself rising, rising in love was truly better. He has become a better person, at least he has been trying. Because even though Lily doesn't want him, he wants to be someone who actually deserves Lily and not some arsehole bully. Because he was one, whatever one might say. Even though he got as good he gave. Lily might never ever like him but maybe _just maybe_ that wouldn’t hurt so much one day. Because even though they weren’t meant to be, he would know that he loves her with his everything and will forever. Whatever might come or happen. With those thoughts, he drifted to sleep.

…….

He wakes up at seven, his head pounding so he downs a hangover potion he still had from last time. That was when he notices that Sirius’s curtains were drawn back, revealing an empty bed. He frowns at that, Sirius has a habit of wandering away when he can’t sleep or memories trouble him; although usually he finds him in the common room. Nowadays, he is found chatting with Lily and although he knew Sirius was bent as a pirate’s hook; he couldn’t help but be a little jealous of their relationship. They laugh openly together, he knew it has something to do with his rotten mother’s letter and how Lily had found him almost burning off his hand, still he wants that with her as well.

His eyes skirts past Sirius’s bed and he sees them-Sirius and Remus- in a tangled mess of limbs in Remus’s bed. He smiles at the sight, he bloody loves both these idiots, if only they hadn’t been this fucking dumb around each other. Great in academics but idiots in love, great choice of friends he has. But he is stuck with them for life, no matter how dumb or idiotic they get. He just wishes they would figure it out on their own before he has to intervene. With that thought he heads downstairs, not even bothering to change.

“Oh hey Evans! Up so early?” he asks her as she looks up from her tea cup. He tosses a small phial at her. He left one for Peter and brought the last two phials with him, in case someone needed it. _Thank Merlin, he had._ He smiles to himself.

She catches the phial easily and drinks it up without even a second’s hesitation. _So she trusted his potion skills now?_

“Thanks Potter. That was very useful.” she smiles at him, sweetly like she hasn’t before. Not in the last six years that he has known her for.

“It was no trouble, Evans. So tell me how you’re up this early?”

“I could ask you the same.” 

“Hangover makes me weird, I wake up early because of it. Don’t even ask.”

She smiles again, she is smiling much this morning, not that he is actually complaining, he can watch her smile all the time. “I won’t then, but there _is_ one thing that has been eating me up since the term started.”

“Whatever you want, Evans.”

She looks him directly in the eye and asks something he never thought he would ever hear from her, “You have not asked me out this year.” It wasn’t a question per se, but he understood what she meant. _Why? Why hadn’t he?_ The question even he didn’t have a proper answer to. He is trying to be someone she deserved first? His heart can’t take anymore rejection from her? Who knew? Not him certainly.

“I know.” he says soberly, he doesn't have a proper answer for her, what can he say when he doesn't know for sure himself. 

“Why Evans, missing all the attention, huh? Or is it that you had finally seen the great person I am?” he asks after a moment, breaking the silence which was getting more uncomfortable by the second.

“Can’t do without the attention now, can I? And don’t get your hopes up, Potter. As if I ever would.”

He had known the answer but it still hurt to hear it out loud, “I don’t think it was me asking you, now was it? My memory is quite fragile.”

“Of course it is, else how can one fail so many classes. It's practically impossible.”

“Yes Evans, I am _so_ dumb. That I got four Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations just by showing my face, right?” he asks in a mocking tone.

“Yeah, exactly!” she says, taking her wand and re-heating her now cold tea.

They sit in awkward silence for who knows how long while he stares at the fire with great interest. Neither of them know what to talk about now that they haven't got someone to tease or quip jokes. They aren't actually friends after all and he has had the same three friends for the last six years so he has no idea what to actually say now. What does one say to the love of their life who has rejected him for seven years now and even just now; although not in so many words, even though she has been laughing when she had said those words. 

“So what is the new prank you’re planning against the Hufflepuffs? The one you were talking about yesterday.”

“Now you’re talking, Evans. I obviously can not tell you, you might sabotage it.”

“Try me.” She looks at him with such expression that he feels like she is challenging him somehow. So he tells her about the plan, deliberately leaving out a few details and when it is going to happen, in case she snitches on them at the last moment.

Words come easily after that, at least the silences are short and quickly filled by one of them. 

They don’t realize how late it is, until Sirius stumbles down the stairs, his hair disheveled which he tries to tame with his fingers and somehow makes a bun out of it. 

“Hey Pads! Where were you?”

He frowns at the odd question and answers hesitantly, “Why in my bed, where else?”

“Oh really? Only when I was coming down I saw your bed empty.” Sirius goes red at that and that is something you don’t see everyday so he enjoys the moment. “I was in Remus’s because I couldn’t sleep and you know he is quite warm.”

“Yes yes, Sirius. You’re there just for the warmth, we completely believe. So tell us did you have a good night’s sleep after that?” Lily asks in a mock tone which made it perfectly clear what she believes in.

Sirius rubs his neck and smiles shyly at them before answering them that it had been quite pleasant and then with a pointed look suggests that they should try it some time as well. 

James feels his face warm up while Lily stammers while Sirius continues, “I didn’t say together, did I?” And then that bitch had the audacity to actually smile _innocently_ at them. 

…….

“Let’s go to Hogsmeade for lunch!” Peter suggests after waking up just after noon.

“I can do with a butterbeer or two.” Remus replies and Sirius hums his approval as well.

“Who am I to say no then?” James shrugs at them. So that’s how they find themselves seated in a corner in The Three Broomsticks. Madam Rosmerta is passing by, just a few moments after they had seated themselves so she takes their order while returning.

“Look, it's my favourite customers!” she exclaims as she sees them. Too many sloshed nights, butterbeer throwing and food fights said otherwise.

“You clearly mean _customer_ since I’m your favorite, isn’t that so Rosie?” he jests. Only Sirius Black can get away with ridiculous nicknames for elder people with nothing but an empty threat.

“Of course, Darling! You are the _best_ customer anyone could even think back.” Her reply drips sarcasm that James can’t help the chuckle that escapes his mouth. “So what would you boys have?”

“Four Butterbeers and some chips, please.” Remus replies on their behalf. They have the same first order, it gets complicated as the time goes on. Sirius asks tentatively, “Rosie dear, could you spike mine with some firewhiskey, please?” He gives her his best smile but Madam Rosmerta just raises her eyebrow, clearly not pleasant. She is next attacked by his puppy dog look and _somehow_ she melts, “Fine, but only because you will be seventeen soon and I want a big party here.”

“Of course, Rosie. Where else would we ever go?” Madam Rosmerta just laughs and leaves them and they get engrossed in all sort of gibberish.

A bit later, upon Madam Rosmerta’s signal, he and Sirius get up to get their drinks. “So are we just ignoring the elephant in the room?” he asks on the way.

“I have no idea what you’re on about.” Sirius replies and promptly averts his eyes. “So we are ignoring it. Okay fine! Don’t come crying to me when Moony starts ignoring you again after some shit you do.” 

“I don’t cry and I won’t because well, I don’t want to go on any more dates, it makes Moony upset, dunno why. So I’ve decided no more dates because I don’t really want to upset him.”

Madam Rosmerta smiles at them and hands them the drinks and they start towards their table. James keeps quiet through all this because he knows if he opens his mouth then it won’t be a pretty scene. But Sirius doesn’t seem to notice his wrath because a moment later he chimes, “Do you think I should set him up on a date? Do you think he is upset because no one asked him out? Is it this crush of his whose name you wouldn’t tell me? Did she reject him?” He continues blabbering whatever bullshit comes to his mind, until James can’t take it anymore. He instantly makes the decision of telling him and maybe even throw a mild stinging jinx afterwards.

“Pads--”

“Oh look it’s the blood traitors.” Someone calls out from one of the table they pass by. He looks their way to see a blur of green everywhere. _Of course they get stopped by bloody slytherins, from year five to seven and of course they are the ones who are rumored to get the Dark Mark. Because that is just faith._

“And James look! It’s the new Death Eater wanna be-s with failed grades.” Sirius replies in the same tone. He notices Regulus in the group but he remains silent as the others smugly agree. He quickly glances at Sirius and he sees the hurt easily in his eyes. Impossible for anyone but his closest to even know it’s there.

“Quite proud, aren’t you? Going to do lots of killings? Make sure you wear your diapers properly, it gets scary.” He laughs at their outraged faces but before they can say anything back Madam Rosmerta intervenes, threatening to ban each and everyone of them if they keep it up and even future Death Eaters stop at her threat. _Her butterbeer is to die for, none can resist._

As they start moving again, he sees Sirius maintaining eye contact with Regulus until it’s too obvious and they break it. Regulus looks back at his friends and laughing with them and Sirius shrugs and continues walking.

“You alright mates?” Peter asks as soon as they reach their own table, while Remus silently touches Sirius’s arm and looks at him. He verbally replies to Peter while Sirius silently nods to Remus. The rest of the day passes by uneventfully with more butterbeer, all of them spiked and then happily returning back, all of them drunk and blabbering rubbish. All in all it was a great way to end their weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the kudos and the lovely lovely comments, they made my whole day so much brighter!!!!! <3
> 
> Also I wrote a small wolfstar smut on tumblr if anyone is interested @slytherinnbitch


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first full moon of the term.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is wolfstar so obviously next one is going to be jily fluff(sorta)

*POV Remus* 

He slowly opens his eyes, trying to keep as quiet as possible. The first thing he sees is a blurry figure in front of him with their black hair on the bed and they seem to be holding Remus’s hand in a tight grip, he even feels their lips on the front of his hand, brushing slightly with his skin.

He blinks twice before the world comes back in focus and he immediately recognises the black mane. He tries to sit up and groans loudly as the pain shoots down his spine. Sirius looks up immediately, his eyes taking in Remus’s face and he asks, “It’s bad isn’t it?”

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” he retorts back instead of answering, they both know that he would lie if he did.

“Couldn’t sleep.” he just shrugs as if it’s not a big deal.

“Pads….” he admonishes.

“It’s fine, for real. I was worried about you and it's better to be here than in the dorm, it feels so empty without you.”

He smiles and squeezes his hand. “Moons you should be resting.” Sirius advised.

“Yeah, so should you but I don’t see you doing that.”

“I’m not the one who tore their skin apart last night.”

“And you’re saying that I didn’t hurt you? At all?” he asks and Sirius promptly averts his eyes and gives him the answer he already knows. “Yeah that’s what I thought.”

“Come sleep with me,” he shifts, wincing slightly, as he makes space for Sirius. Sirius for his part looks tempted but instead he answers, “Moony no. I’m just going to end up hurting you and then Pomfrey would ban me from here forever.”

“She won’t, not when I tell her not to. Now come on, I sleep better with you anyways.” It was true, they have been sleeping in the same bed for the past week, sometimes it was Sirius’s nightmares and sometimes it was Remus’s restlessness as he watched the moon and somehow in between all that they had started sleeping together and he doesn’t know if he would even get sleep without Sirius’s warm body beside him. It also didn’t help his crush on him and it has just been a  _ week _ .

He can pinpoint the exact moment Sirius gives in, he opens his shoes and socks and slowly gets in beside him.

“Happy?” he asks when he is perfectly settled beside Remus. “More than you would even imagine.” he smiles sweetly at him.

Sirius gently lifts his hand caresses Remus’s cheek in the faintest of touches before whispering, “Sleep now Re. I’m here.” He tucks a stray curl behind his ear and smiles slowly at him, making Remus’s inside melt and vaporize. Sirius puts his head at the crook of his neck and closes his eyes. Remus wraps his arms around him and drifts to sleep. 

*

“Mr. Black! This is highly irregular--” Remus wakes up again to Madam Pomfrey shouting at Sirius who is sitting on his beside, just beside him, rubbing his eyes.

“Pomy I’m sorry, it was my fault. I asked him to sleep with me.” His voice is groggy as he sits up beside Sirius. He blushes at how the words came out but he continues nonetheless, “I slept better, please Pomy. Don’t punish him for my mistake, please.” He pleads her, wincing at the effort. 

Madam Pomfrey huffs but doesn’t say anything else on the subject except making Sirius sit on the chair beside the bed. She leaves them with a warning that when she comes back with Remus’s breakfast, she shouldn’t have to repeat herself.

“That didn’t go all too well.” Sirius smiles at him, they look at each other for a split second before they both burst out laughing, although it hurts him to laugh and he grimaces it feels so good that he can’t bring himself to stop. 

When they stop at last, Sirius casually takes his arm and entwines their fingers and looks at Remus with such sincerity in his eyes that Remus’ heart swoons. They just sit like that for the longest time, sometimes Sirius leans over to tuck a stray lock or brush his thumb over the back of his hand. He rests his eyes or sometimes looks at Sirius as he plays with their hands or just looks outside the window. It’s such a comfortable silence that he doesn’t want to break, but ultimately it’s the mediwitch who breaks it, bringing him his breakfast. It sure smells delicious but Remus has zero wish to even taste the food, his stomach turns at even the thought of eating. He plays with it as long as Pomfrey stays but as soon as she is out of sight he pushes the food away. 

“Re….” Sirius warns him. “Not happening, Si. I don’t want to eat please.” he whines, not caring that he sounds really petulant. 

“Please love, just a bite for me?” Remus stops breathing at the word and can’t do anything but minutely nod his head. Sirius gives him a bright smile and butters up a piece of toast and holds it in front of his mouth. He takes a test bite, his nose scrunching as he chews, it takes so horrible, he feels like vomiting but nonetheless he tries to keep it down, just for Sirius’ sake.

“Happy?” he asks after he feels that he wouldn't be taking any of the contents in his stomach out. He squeezes Sirius’s hand and he squeezes it back, lightly.

“Not entirely but it’ll do for now.” Just then Remus hears the doors open and he hears James and Peter’s voices, hushed up but his senses are super sensitive as is.

“Hey Moons!” James greets as he enters, he looks pointedly at their clasped hands but doesn’t comment on it. “Feeling any better, Moony?” Peter inquires, his face concerned.

“Good morning, both of you. Not really Wormtail.” he says and Peter gives him a small, tight-lipped smile. 

“We just wanted to come say hi before classes. It’s Potions first thing and we can’t miss it, sorry Moony.” James apologises and rubs his neck. “How many times do I tell you that you shouldn’t miss classes on my account. Plus the notes are way better for me than seeing your sorry faces for the whole day.” he jokes but he knows he hasn’t really fooled anyone. They all know he just doesn’t want them to see him in pain which he hides for now, throughout the whole day, especially Sirius. 

“Oh Pads, before I forget. I got this for you.” Peter produces a croissant from his bag, wrapped in tissue paper to him and Sirius basically gobbles it down with a hurried thanks.

“You could just have had something from me, I didn’t even eat much.” Remus expressed. Sirius shakes his head and counters back, “And let Madam Pomfrey think that you actually had breakfast so she doesn’t force you much for lunch, never.”

Remus sticks out his tongue at being caught while James and Peter laugh and Sirius shakes his head slightly, suppressing the smile that gives away anyway. 

The three of them soon after, Sirius caressing his cheek once just before leaving and whispering, “I’ll be back at lunch.” And then he smiled at Remus and couldn’t help but smile back at him even though it hurt. His smile had slipped away just as Sirius’ fingers left his skin but he was still reeling all over this morning’s conversation and of last night, at least the much he remembered.

He remembers Padfoot being the first one to approach him as Moony was fully transformed. Moony had scratched him almost immediately but he had gained enough control over Moony to make him stop as he took in Padfoot’s hurtful expression. After that they had played all night, chasing each other and finally crashing back at the Shack just before dawn. 

Padfoot had been the last one to leave him as usual. He had simply refused to leave his side, sitting quietly beside him and snuggling against him, trying to comfort Remus as much as he could and he had unsurprisingly had been able to do just that. He doesn’t remember much after that, it was a whole blur that hurts his head to even think about so he gives up and instead focuses on how Sirius had been looking at him and the feeling of their entwined fingers. It had felt especially nice when he had called Remus ‘love’. 

He drifts between sleep and consciousness throughout the day but soon he feels the sun setting and he knows it’s time to go back to the Shack again. Pomy helps him of course, she leaves him there almost half an hour before the moon would come out. 

He feels it’s pull and slowly gives himself to the agony and pain as the moon starts to shine, he tries to focus on seeing Sirius and James and Peter soon. That always helps him through the transformation. When all his bones are deformed and he knows that the worst is over he hears a small whimper that isn’t his. Padfoot is the first one to come inside, followed closely by Prongs and Wormtail on his head. Padfoot comes closer and nudges him towards the forest. His first instinct is to growl at him but Padfoot seems unfazed and soon he is outside in the cold night with his three best mates beside him. 

Padfoot smiles at him and shoots forward into the dark, Prongs grunts and soon he is gone as well. Moony howls into the night and chases after them into the misty, cold night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the lovely kudos and comments, they make my days so much happier! <3


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some jily which ends with wolfstar fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry for not being able to post on Wednesday, my laptop isn't working properly and yeah ://

*POV Lily*

"Mr. Black, are you alright?" Professor Sprout asks as she sees him writing all the notes down. 

"Yes professor. Why wouldn't I be?" Sirius asks back politely. 

The professor gapes in horror for a second before replying, "No no nothing. Carry on with your work." 

Even the Hufflepuffs are staring, even though this is a monthly occurrence, none of them get used to it. It's fairly natural in Lily's opinion. To anyone else it would seem that the Marauders found their brains while Remus was absent for some reasons, but Lily knew exactly why they did it and it was so heartwarming. They all had different subjects and all of them diligently took notes in their respective subjects. 

Over the years she had figured out who got which. Sirius took Herbology and Astronomy although she had no idea why he didn't take Transfiguration because he was easily the best, not that she would ever say that out loud. James took care of Potions and Charms. Peter was left with Transfiguration and DADA, even then all of them paid explicit attention to each and every subject. 

She was planning to go and visit Remus tonight after prefect rounds or maybe before them. It depends on whether she'll have time or not. 

So when all the classes for the day ended, it was still pretty early. Thank  _ Merlin _ Slughorn hadn't asked for extra time then she couldn't have time. She met James on the way there, who stopped her. 

"Going to meet Re, Evans?" He asks, coming to a stop just in front of her. 

"Yeah, why?" 

"He is asleep now. Pomfrey said not to disturb him, it was a rough night apparently." He sucks in his lips and shakes his head. 

"Oh okay." She thought she would get to see him today, now she doesn't think she would be able to. 

"Tell you what, Evans. I'm going to get him some chocolate from HoneyDukes. He finished his stash in the morning and he'll be a pain in the arse if he doesn't have more chocolate to munch on for the rest of the week." He stuffs his hands in his jeans and that's when she notices that he has already changed his clothes for the day, going for Muggle clothes instead of normal wizard robes. 

"And how are you supposed to do that and why are you telling me?" She inquires but she thinks she might know it already. 

"Come with, Evans. We'll see him after getting the chocolates so it's a win win for you. We can say that we were on rounds and we are together so no one would think otherwise." He suggests and smiles at her. She thinks she likes the 'we' a little too much. 

She considers the offer for a moment and thinks that it wouldn't be much bad. If they're sneaking, it's not like James or any of the others were ever caught while doing so. 

"Lead the way then." She tells him and starts walking forward. James just stares at her, not moving an inch so being the  _ brave  _ Gryffindor she is, she takes his hand in hers and drags him forward.

The blush on James's cheeks is imminent. But he entwines their fingers hesitantly and Lily doesn't object. They hold hands all the way to the secret passage where James stealthily moves a knob and a dark passage opens. 

He takes her hand in his and helps her through the passage. It feels like hours before they come out from the passage. They come out of the basement of HoneyDukes. 

Around her are a thousand different types of toffees and chocolates and her mouth waters. One of the best things she and Remus have in common is their mutual love for chocolate, although Remus loves it more, without doubt. 

"Woahhhhhhh" she whistles while she takes in the whole room. 

"You're not allowed to tell anyone, or come alone. They don't know you, you might get in trouble." James warns.

"And they know  _ you _ ?" She asks, tilting her head. 

"Evans, I've been frequenting this place since second year. They even know my name and even--" he stops short and continues after a second, "let's go upstairs, shall we?" 

She nods and they both proceed upstairs,  _ not _ not holding hands. She wonders what James was going to say. She doesn't want to pry so she refrains from asking, even though she is practically itching to ask.

"Hey Mora!" James greets as soon as he sights one of the shop employees she knows by face. 

"Hey Jamie!" She greets back, without looking up as she finishes up something. "Oh who do we have here?" She teases him. When she notices their joint hands, which Lily immediately loosens up, she smiles, "Lily then." She grins at her. 

She gives her a small awkward smile, while James goes red beside her. "Yes, Lily. How did you know that, M? Sirius  _ was  _ after all talking about her the last time, wasn't it?" 

"Yeah yeah. He was saying that she has the brightest red hair and it's true, love. You're beautiful." She compliments Lily and she murmurs her thanks, embarrassed as hell. 

"What do you both want then?" Mora asks them. 

And James provided her a  _ bloody list _ full of different types of chocolates and toffees and what not. 

"You just have that on hand?" Lily asks curiously. 

"I mean, yeah. This is the list of his favourites, although Mora knows all of them by heart by now. Specifically during this time, you never know when I gotta run here to get some and I tend to get all of them together." James just shrugs as if it's not the most thoughtful thing ever. 

Mora comes back with three bags full of assorted chocolates. James asks her to add any new chocolates if one is there. Then he turns to him and asks her what she would like to have. She didn't realize that they're going to have chocolates as well. 

"Uh just a licorice wand." she replies and searches her pockets for the change. 

"It's on me, Evans. You can treat me next time." He says with a wink and Lily shakes her head fondly. 

He gets a licorice wand for himself as well, plus a box of the new chocolates for them to share and another box for Sirius and Peter. 

He pays and they talk for some time as they suck on their words. Then he guides her back to the castle, both of their hands full of chocolates. They would be dead if someone catches them,  _ so fucking dead. _ Thankfully that doesn't happen and they go directly to the hospital wing. 

When they reach Remus's bed, they find Sirius already there to no one's surprise. They are sitting there with entwined hands but neither takes away their hands when James and Lily enter the room. 

_ Now isn't that progress,  _ she thinks ruefully. 

Remus's eyes light up when he notices their hands and the bags with HoneyDukes' logo on it. 

"Is that what I think it is?" Remus asks excitedly. 

"Why Moons, did you expect something else?" James grins at him as he hands him one of the new chocolate boxes from the bags. 

"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Sirius pouts and crosses his arms across his chest. 

"Always the drama queen." James rolls his eyes and hands him his box as well. "Mind you half of that is Wormtail's" he warns him.

"Moony gets three bags and I get half a box? How is life this unfair?" Sirius mock whines. 

"And that's how people, we know who Prongs loves the most." Remus announces on an imaginary mic in his hand. 

Sirius rolls his eyes and says, "We all know who got that title, don't we Prongs?" He wiggles his eyebrows and Lily blushes the same colour as his hair. 

"Padfoot shut up." James replies back and it sets the other two laughing, soon James and Lily join in. 

Lily talks to Remus for some more time as James and Sirius discuss something in a corner. She finds Sirius smirking at James and James shoving his shoulder fondly, quite endearing. 

"Lils…" Remus repeats. 

"Huh? Sorry, love. What were you saying?" Lily blushes red with embarrassment at being caught staring. 

"You've got it bad." Remus tells her and before she can protest, he holds up his hand and continues, "No, don't try and deny. I've been your best mate since first year. Give me atleast  _ some _ credit."

She rolls her eyes in reply and just then Madam Pomfrey comes and tells them that it's almost hours and they need to head back. 

They all reluctantly say their goodbyes, and although she wants to hug Remus, she knows it wouldn't be pleasant for him. She knows this from the first time she tried and Remus had hissed in terrible pain. 

Sirius moves closer to the bed, murmurs his goodbye and tucks a stray curl and then  _ he leans forward and places a kiss on Remus's cheek. _ They are both blushing when Sirius looks at him again, standing upright. 

She shares a wide eyed look with James but by his expression, even he doesn't know how and when this happened. They both nod at silent agreement to question their beloved friend as soon as they get out of the wing and at last all of them proceed towards their Gryffindor Tower. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely, lovely kudos <3


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